


Maria's Adventures: Transformers!

by CrossingTheFourthWall



Series: Maria's Adventures [6]
Category: Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Transformers: Prime
Genre: (there's a lot of that in this series), Crossover, Gen, I wrote this one three years ago or so, Mind Control, end of first season and the start of the second, follows the TF:P series, hints at another story, only borrowing characters from JLA, there'll be a stark change between my early works and how this one goes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 09:55:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 45
Words: 132,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11666778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrossingTheFourthWall/pseuds/CrossingTheFourthWall
Summary: It's the beginning of summer and Maria has managed to find a world to help. This time, she's bringing help with her -- her older brother Matthew.But what's this? She is unfamiliar with at least some of the dimension's inhabitants -- giant, mechanical beings from a planet made of metal. What is happening with them that needs Maria's attention? And what will her interactions with them result in?





	1. Another Vision

A girl with light brown hair and blue eyes let out a yawn as she came downstairs, her nose twitching. "Is that bacon I smell?"

"Yup!" A brown-haired, blue-eyed young man grinned at as the girl entered the kitchen. "Morning, Maria. Or, should I say, sleeping beauty."

Maria snorted. "Sleeping beauty yourself, Matt. How is it you're up earlier than I am? It's only seven in the morning in June."

"I felt like getting up before everyone else for a change." Maria's brother placed a plate of bacon on the kitchen table. "I suppose you're fully charged up?"

"Why else would I be up?" Maria snatched a piece of bacon off the plate with a white-gloved hand, giving her brother a suspicious look. "Why would you mention that, anyway? You haven't told anyone, have you?"

Matthew snorted. "Now why would you believe that?"

"I know you well enough to know that your normal habits are changed only when something is wrong or you're keeping a secret." Maria got up on her toes, her red shoulder guards glinting in the light as she tried to get some eye contact with her taller, older brother. "What did you do?"

Matthew's blue eyes sparked, the smirk that had been on his face disappearing into a serious expression. "It's not what I did -- it's what a friend did. The Langstroms -- the ones across the street -- told me a few days ago that their daughter has gone missing."

Maria arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Khrista? Missing?" She frowned. "Well, that would explain why Joshua hasn't called to set up that virtual video game tournament he wanted to fight me in...." She shook her head. "They're probably participating in a tournament back on the Pokemon world."

"Could be. But according to them, she hasn't been gone for this long before, and Joshua actually disappeared into the woods for one reason or another." Matthew shrugged. "You want to try and check it out?"

The Reploid paused for a moment before shaking her head. "Wherever Khrista is, she's probably fine." Maria tossed the bacon into her mouth and swallowed. "You saw her in action, anyway. There's no way that she could possibly be defenseless in any world."

"And you are certainly piled up on defense." Matthew tapped Maria's orange-colored armored chest, prompting a chuckle from his sister. "You know, I was pretty surprised when you showed your armor to us that first time. Who knew my sister was a robot, right?"

"That's _Reploid,_ " Maria corrected. "If you want to meet Dr. Light personally, I can arrange a meeting between the two of you."

"Really? You could do that?"

"My portals can transfer more than one person. I brought everybody back from Neo-Mobius. I can get you to Neo-Earth, or bring him back here."

"Nah, I'm good. He's probably got his hands full with the bots." Matthew looked out a nearby window. "So, have you had any of those vision things you mentioned?"

Maria shook her head. "I think it's because there's nothing really going on that I need to give any attention to. The last _actual_ day-vision I had from it was back in the Nintendo Kingdom, right before we arrested Saturn and what remained of the Galactic goons. Course, that was before any of us realized that Cyrus had done something to Giratina...."

"Hey, no one expected that," Matthew stated. "And the only reason you didn't get messed up in that was because of what was going on over on Light's planet. At least the Lake Trio had some sense in getting somebody else."

"And Khrista performed admirably." Maria smirked. "Merlin and Chaos filled in the blanks when I would ask them to pop by. It's pretty incredible, really, how they managed to set that plan in motion."

"Have you told her yet?"

Maria gave her brother a look. "Told her?"

"About what happened on Capcom. You know, what we found out in that video we got a few days ago?"

Maria blinked, then let out a sigh. "No, I haven't. I don't have a reason to, mainly because I don't have to at this point in time. Khrista doesn't need to know."

"That statement will probably come and bite you in the back when you need her most," Matthew warned teasingly.

"Ha ha, veeery funny." Maria grabbed another piece of bacon, then made a change in the subject. "Dr. Light thinks my White Flare attack could reach levels of heat that could match a volcano. He's probably right."

"Now, that's one thing I don't understand." Matthew sat down at the table, fiddling with a piece of bacon. "How'd you get the fire powers, Collin become into a living generator, and Liz is some sort of water user, while I have nothing going for me?"

Maria shrugged, then sat down as well. "Mom and Dad didn't have anything like that, so I don't know how I got it. It's weird, really. I can't help but wonder if there's more to our family than meets the eye...."

Within her chest, there was a sudden surge of energy from the Atlantean Crystal that powered her robotic form. Maria let out a gasp of surprise as something that _definitely_ wasn't her home's kitchen filled her vision.

_A tall, dark figure stood in what appeared to be a forested area, the strange figure's eyes glowing a deep, dangerous red as they stared -- seemingly into Maria's soul. More figures soon appeared, each with their eyes glowing that same deep red shade. The fog that surrounded the area began to slowly clear, revealing a destroyed city just past the trees. Above, in the sky, the clouds formed a strange formation -- the tip of a plane, only with a face attached that seemed to be glaring down at the world below, other clouds wrapping themselves around it. The figures in front of Maria became revealed, as well, causing the Reploid to gasp in shock...._

Maria let out a gasp as the vision ended, collapsing against the table with a _clang!_ and a groan.

"What just happened?" Matthew asked. "It looked like you were staring off into space."

"A vision," Maria replied. "Of a bad future on another planet. Or, perhaps, an event to come that could change the set course of history." She looked at her brother, still breathing heavily after what she had seen. "Do you remember when I was looking into those stories on the FanFiction website? The ones with the giant robots that I wouldn't have found without going into the tournament?"

Matthew gave his sister a strange look. "Uh...yeah. Of course I remember you talking about those. Why?"

"That's what was in the vision. I think that the good guys in that world need my help."

"Them? Need you?" Matthew shook his head. "I find that hard to believe. What could robot titans like the ones you described to us need you for?"

"Keeping them from going completely to the dark side -- or maybe something worse." Maria got up from the table. "The robots there keep their existence a secret to the rest of the Earth -- except for a select few who aren't a part of their American government-people. If I remember correctly from what I've seen off the Internet already, there's a group that seems intent on taking them out. They could spell trouble for the good guys."

"So, you're saying that you're going to head out to their world?"

Maria nodded. "I was given this crystal," she said, tapping her chest, "as well as the gift to see visions of what has happened -- my Dimensional Scream, if you will. It's predicted things perfectly so far, and I'm not going to _not_ trust it this time." She took a couple steps away from her brother. "You may want to stand back."

"Wait a sec." Matthew grabbed one of Maria's metallic arms. "Why don't I come with you? The only place I've been to is that Pokemon planet, and I haven't traveled anywhere since."

Maria gave her brother a curious look. "I don't want to get you into any danger, Matt. Who knows what sort of dangers could become involved?"

"I helped take Cyrus out. What could be worse?"

"Getting incinerated by an enemy attack? Or torn to shreds by their clawed talons?" Maria didn't sound worried as she listed these off to her brother, as these could only cause minor injuries to her. "I don't think that you getting involved would be such a good idea.... Besides, what would Mom and Dad think if _you_ disappeared?"

Matthew's shoulders sagged slightly at the thought of their parents, but then he smirked and straightened. "We could write out a note, you know. That's what Liz did when she left last time."

Maria flinched slightly at remembering what had happened, then frowned. "You just want to go somewhere, don't you?"

"I really want to go," Matthew replied, nodding vigorously. "Besides, I haven't been anywhere else other than...well, you know."

Maria frowned, hesitant, but then gave a slow nod. "Well, I guess you can come along...but be careful, all right? We're going somewhere I know nothing about, so who knows _what's_ going to happen."

Matthew gave a nod, then dashed into another room. He returned a few minutes later with a page torn out of a notebook and his quick, neat handwriting on it in big letters: _"Left with Maria for another world. Be back soon. -- Matthew"_

"You know that 'soon' is pretty much a relative term, right?" Maria asked as Matt put the paper on the table.

Matthew shrugged. "You're gone for two days to a full week. They'll have an idea about how long we'll be out of here."

Maria eyed her brother for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right." She held her right hand out in front of her and mimed shooting a gun, causing a small orb of blue energy to appear and expand into a human-sized portal.

"That's new," Matthew remarked, raising an eyebrow.

Maria shrugged. "I've been trying new styles of portal-summoning. I'm going to need something iconic since my staff's gone."

Matthew started toward the portal, looking back at his sister. "Well, I don't think that one's going to work."

"If you say so," Maria replied, grinning. She quickly followed after her brother, stepping into the portal not too long after he had disappeared from sight.

Seconds later, the portal winked out of existence in the kitchen...at the same time that footsteps could be heard on the stairs.


	2. Introductions

"So, you're saying that you _want_ to try and find the Decepticons?" The male teenager gave the girl a look of shock. "Are you insane?!"

"Jack, if we can find out where their ship is, then the Autobots can go and storm the place!" the dark-haired girl replied sourly. "Why not go and look for them?"

"You've already gotten yourself into trouble trying to do this sort of thing, Miko," a little boy scolded, adjusting his glasses. "If we get found by a Decepticon out here, then they'll use _us_ as a way to draw the Autobots into a trap!"

"Oh, don't be such a scaredy-cat, Raf," Miko responded, forging ahead through the bushes. "We'll be fine. The Decepticreeps probably aren't around...here." She stopped short, staring out into a nearby clearing. "Oh, scrap."

"What is it?" Raf asked. The two boys came up behind Miko, their eyes widening upon seeing the sight that was before them.

A giant, silver-and-red robot with what appeared to be jet wings on his back and what looked like high heels on his feet was angrily looking around. Behind him was what seemed to be the smoking remains of a stash of some sort of fuel.

"Great. Starscream," Jack muttered. "I told you that doing this was a bad idea."

"Then why'd you follow me?" Miko demanded

"To get you back to where Ratchet can Ground Bridge us back to base!"

Somewhere behind them, a branch snapped, causing the kids' heads to turn.

...It also caught Starscream's attention.

"Eh? Who's there?" The Transformer looked over in the kids' direction, and his red optics widened. "Humans!" He dashed for the three kids, only for the trio to start running into the trees. "Get back here, Earthling scum!"

Jack dashed forward, motioning for the other two to follow him as they tried to keep away from the crazy Decepticon. Fortunately, the forest provided them more time, slowing down Starscream's movements. Unfortunately, this only made the Cybertronian angrier.

"This way!"

The kids' heads turned, catching sight of a human figure waving in the distance. Seeing as the way over to the figure made Starscream's path more difficult, the three took advantage of this and dashed over to where the human was standing,

"Are you three all right?" The eighteen-year-old, dark-haired boy in a dark-blue short-sleeve and jeans asked.

"Not for long," Jack replied. "We've got to move -- now!"

The boy looked at what was behind them, his blue eyes wide. "I see what you mean! Let's go!" He turned and jumped over a rock, dashing deeper into the forest. The other kids, not seeing much else of a choice, followed the stranger.

"So, what are your names?" The eighteen-year-old asked as they continued to run into the forest.

"Jack," Jack stated. "The other two are Miko and Raf."

"Pleasure. Name's Matthew -- call me Matt. I was...hiking in the area when I heard that thing yelling. What was that?"

"A Decepticon!" Miko shouted back.

Matt's eyes widened, and he blinked in confusion. "Decepticon?" he repeated. "What's that?"

"An evil robot from the planet Cybertron," Raf explained hurriedly. "They shoot first, ask questions never. Especially Starscream."

Matt's eyes narrowed at this. "In that case, we'd better find some help."

"Your kind of help wouldn't work." Matt looked at Jack. "You need a Cybertronian to take a Cybertronian. Preferably an Autobot."

Matt gave Jack a curious look. "And you know about this stuff _how_?"

"...We have a few friends." Jack's face paled. "Oh, great...."

The group stopped short in front of a rocky cliff, finding themselves trapped in a dead end.

"This is why you don't go after the Autobots and try to help, Miko," Jack stated, turning to look at the foreign-exchange student.

The golden-eyed girl stuck her tongue out in response to this. "You just don't like to get into the action."

"Ah-ha! Got you!" Starscream came to a halt in front of the group of humans. "Now I can use you as a way to get the Autobots to surrender...yes...then Lord Megatron will be pleased with me!"

"You'll have to go through me, first." Matt moved in front of the other three, causing them to look at him in surprise.

Starscream laughed. "You're nothing to me, human! I can take you on without wasting a drop of Energon!"

Matt's eyes narrowed. He knew that what the 'Decepticon' said was probably right, but he wasn't going to just go down without a fight...even if he was tossed into this without any sort of experience with the robots that Maria had mentioned. These kids -- who were obviously friends with the good guys (did they call them 'Autobots'?) -- needed to be protected.

In his chest, it felt like Matt had suddenly unlocked a large store of energy, because something -- most likely adrenaline -- was pumped into his arms. Instinctively, he held his hands in a familiar stance, holding a sphere of air in front of him. A blue glow suddenly erupted from the space between his hands.

"Take this!" Matt threw a ball of glowing blue energy at the Decepticon, hitting the robot's right wing.

"Gah!" Starscream, surprisingly, stumbled backward, then looked at his smoking wing, shock appearing on his face.

"How did you do that?" Miko asked, giving Matt a curious look.

"I'm...not sure." Matt looked down at his hands, which glowed for a moment longer before turning back to normal. _Is this what she feels when she uses Fire Sphere?_ "Let's see if I can do it again." He got into the stance once more and tried to concentrate on gathering energy into that space again...only for nothing to happen. "What is this?!"

Starscream glared at Matt, chuckling a little. "My, my. You would certainly be a good asset to Megatron's forces...yes, perfect!" He started forward, now ignoring the dent in the wing -- and most likely the pain that was there, as well. Before he could grab Matt, however, a blur of yellow and black landed on top of the Decepticon.

Raf's eyes widened in delight. "Bumblebee!"

The robot let out a beep in response, then jumped back as Starscream started to get up, growling curses in Cybertronian under his breath.

"You are going to pay for that, Autoscum," the Decepticon snarled.

Bumblebee responded with a few clicks, whirs, and beeps, which the robot-jet instantly took as an insult, and the Decepticon barreled into the Autobot with the intent of taking him out.

"You kids should know better than to go off like that!"

Matt and the others looked up, catching sight of a slim robot figure in dark blues and purples, a streak of pink in the center of its head.

"Sorry, Arcee," Jack apologized. "But we had to go after Miko!" The mentioned girl stuck her tongue out at Jack. "And then we found Matt...."

Arcee jumped down in front of them while Starscream continued to battle Bumblebee through the trees. "Oh, great. Not another one."

"I, uh...take it you're not pleased to see me," Matt noted. He did his best to keep down his surprise upon seeing a _girl_ robot, but shock at seeing another robot still showed. "What are you guys, anyway? I haven't seen you around here before."

"We'll explain when we get back to base." Arcee pointed out past the cliff, towards an opening. "There's a Ground Bridge over there. Go. We'll cover you!" With that, she turned into a motorcycle and zoomed off after Starscream and Bumblebee.

"Come on!" Jack ran in the direction Arcee had pointed. "We have to get out of here!"

Matt swallowed his surprise and nodded, still feeling like there was adrenaline pumping through him. Running after Jack and the others, he asked, "What's a Ground Bridge?"

"It's how the Autobots manage to get from place to place," Raf explained. "It's pretty much a giant-robot-sized teleporter."

"Does it work for people of our size?" Matt didn't bother keeping the nervousness out of his voice.

"We've been through it tons of times before," Miko replied with a shrug. "I don't see why it would hurt."

"So, you have no idea where that power came from?" Raf asked as the group broke out of the trees.

Matt shook his head. "That's never happened before. I've known people who have unusual abilities, but I never expected myself to gain them...."

"Maybe you came out of that big explosion in Dakota," Miko suggested.

Matt frowned. "Dakota? What do you mean?"

"About a year and a half ago, there was this explosion in the docks of a city on the shore of Lake Michigan," Jack explained. "There've been rumors of kids with unusual powers coming from there."

Matt's frown deepened, and he shook his head. "I didn't come from that city." _If that cartoon is a part of this world, as well.... Maria had better not have been flung to the other side of the world._ He caught sight of something in the distance, and his eyes widened slightly. "Is that the Ground Bridge thing you told me about?" He pointed to a swirling portal of green, with flecks of red and blue also in the mix.

"That's it!" Jack picked up his pace, the others following suit. "We're almost there."

"Oh no, you don't."

Starscream landed in front of them from out of nowhere, Arcee and Bumblebee dashing in front of the Bridge and behind Starscream.

"Either you come quietly with me, or I'll blast you!" Starscream screeched.

"It seems to me that we'll get blasted either way," Matt muttered. He desperately wished that he could have that power reactivated. "Come on...come on...where's that power surge?!" He tried to gather his power again, only for nothing to happen. _I should probably call it an Aura Sphere -- that_ is _what it looks like._

Starscream laughed. "You really think that attack will beat me so easily?"

Behind him, a figure emerged from the Ground Bridge.

"Hey, Starscream."

The Decepticon's head turned, only to find himself punched backward a few hundred feet by a gigantic green wrecking ball.

"Kids, run!" the green robot yelled.

Not needing to be told twice, the group of four humans dashed the remaining feet to the Ground Bridge, disappearing into the swirling vortex, the Autobots following behind.

**Spacial Break**

Maria looked around at her surroundings, taking in the fact that one: she had been dropped into the middle of a human city; two: her brother was nowhere to be seen; and three: super-powered teens were going on a rampage right in front of her nose. And not just any super-powered teens. The Reploid could see a certain shadow-made figure among them. It was even worse because the sky looked like it was about to burst and go into a downpour.

"Well, since I can't make use of the one...."

Maria was about to drop her holographic disguise of normal clothes -- orange jacket, red shirt, jeans, and white shoes with red stripes -- when lightning flashed and struck the shadowy figure directly, prompting a yell of rage from the young man.

"Bulls-eye!"

Maria looked up in surprise at the sound of the voice, catching sight of an African American boy wearing a costume colored in purples, blacks, and yellows. The front of his black shirt had a lightning-bolt like insignia in yellow. He was also riding a circular piece of metal that was covered in electricity.

"Hey, Ebon! Get back here!" the boy yelled when the shadow figure started to move out of sight. The costumed teenager promptly flew after him, leaving a trail of purple sparks in the air.

"Ebon?" Maria questioned. Her eyes widened, only for the Reploid to gain a deflated look seconds later. "Oh, great." She let out a sigh. "May as well make the most of it." She dashed forward, her Buster appearing under her hologram, but remaining unseen to the naked eye. "Hey, kid! Need some help?"

The costumed boy looked down in her direction, taking note of the clothes Maria was wearing.

"Look, as much as I would like it, I don't think you getting in on this would be such a good idea," the boy stated with a motion that clearly said "stay back." "Just steer clear, and let me and Gear handle this!" The boy took off without another word, firing more electricity at Ebon while a figure with fiery hair was looking up at the sky nervously before trying to find some shelter before the rain started.

Maria's eyes narrowed. "All right, then." She aimed her right arm at a figure flying above the costumed boy -- a teenage girl with wings for arms -- and let loose a normal shot from her Buster. To the Reploid's delight, the attack managed to hit the girl in her left wing, bringing her down.

A boy dressed in green (who had been running around in the background) caught the girl and wrapped her up in what appeared to be metallic tentacles from a small sphere that had already been in his hand.

"Hey, Static!"

The African American teen turned his head slightly to the other boy as he dodged an attack from Ebon.

"Did you take down Talon?" the boy in green asked, looking up at his friend in confusion.

"No way! Can't you see that I've got my hands full?" Static zapped the shadow again, prompting a yell from Ebon. "We'd better wrap this up -- that rain's going to be coming soon, and I do _not_ want to be caught in it!"

Maria smirked, then started to fire more shots at the red-haired boy and Ebon, finally catching the boys' attention when an especially large shot of energy hit Ebon in the gut.

"Unless you're planning on sticking around, then we'd better get out of here!" Maria called. Secretly, she was delighted to be able to meet one of the characters that she had been always fond of, but she really needed to find her brother before he got himself into trouble.

Static flew over to where Maria stood as the other boy started to throw the spheres at the other kids, putting them in the same situation as Talon. "Were you the one who was firing off those shots?"

Maria nodded as she felt her Buster morph back into her right hand -- not that the boys could see it, of course. "Name's Maria White. I saw the commotion and decided to see if I could help you guys out."

"Well, you really didn't need to." The other boy -- Gear, Maria remembered Static calling him -- came over ant stood next to the super-powered teen. "We had things handled."

"Uh-huh. Two against three doesn't seem particularly fair, if you ask me." Her head turned slightly as the sound of sirens approached when the rain started to fall in small droplets. "You guys have a place to keep dry? I'm kind of passing through and I don't have any relatives in the area."

Static and Gear looked at each other.

"There is a place where you can stay," Static replied. "Come on -- I can take you there before I get shorted out." He held to his hand as an invitation for Maria to climb up.

Maria shook her head. "Thanks, but I can handle my own transportation." She gave the mental command for her boosters to activate. A second later, she had taken to the air, mentally thanking Dr. Light for the flight upgrade so that she could go about on her own.

Especially since she didn't know how interacting with Static would affect her robotic form.

Static's jaw dropped as he and Gear stared at Maria in surprise. A moment later, the Reploid heard Gear's backpack-computer reporting what she had covering her body from the neck down.

Gear frowned. "Ok...What's with the armor?"

"Armor?" Static gave his friend a look of confusion. "I don't see any armor."

"I can explain on the way," Maria replied calmly. "Are we going or not?"

The two boys looked at each other, nodded, then took off, Maria following.

"So, care to explain?" Gear asked, giving Maria another look.

Maria gave a smirk in response, then disconnected the energy flow to the Light Refractor, causing the hologram to disappear, and Static's eyes to widen in shock.

"What?" Maria asked. "Never seen a Reploid before?"

Gear's eyes widened. "No way...those are supposed to be only in video games!"

Maria laughed. "Yeah, well, they're real. And you're looking at the first, unofficial Reploid!"

Static gave Maria a weird look. "Care to explain?"

"I'm a traveler. I go between worlds and help out wherever there seems to be a problem," Maria supplied. "Some time ago, I went to the Capcom section of the universe and helped out Dr. Light and MegaMan in their fight against Dr. Wily. In a strange twist of events, I was wounded as soon as I got there. I melted the bot that did the damage, but it left me with very little energy. So, the Doc hooked me up and sent my life source into this prototype shell. Voila!" She motioned to her orange, red, and gray-armored form with her white gloves, a grin on her face.

Gear frowned as Backpack (the computer) beeped, -No lies detected-

"This is not something that I would lie about," Maria stated, crossing her orange and gray arms over her chest. "Like it or not, I actually know you two pretty well."

"Wait -- bot lady say what?" Static was surprised at this.

"Sure. My world can obtain knowledge from other worlds and replays them as video games, TV shows, books, and movies. Why wouldn't I know about you guys?"

Gear exchanged a nervous look with Static, who frowned.

"We should take you to Batman after we dry off," the electric teen decided. He zoomed down to the street below and walked into an abandoned gas station. Gear and Maria followed close behind.


	3. Chapter 3

Matt looked around in amazement as he walked out of the Ground Bridge. "Wow. This place is huge."

"Kinda has to be, what with the Autobots' size," Miko responded with a grin. She looked over at the green, round robot that had come to their rescue. "Thanks for the assist, Bulkhead!"

Bulkhead shook his head. "Miko, you shouldn't have run off like that. You could have gotten yourself killed -- or worse!"

Miko frowned and crossed her arms over her chest in an annoyed manner. "I just wanted to help...."

"Sometimes, help out there isn't as important as help behind a computer," Matt suggested. "I've run into enough situations when my siblings needed help like that."

"Siblings?" Arcee gave him another look. "You mean there are more of you?"

"Well, not around. The two youngest are staying at home with our parents. My sister and I left a while back on a...cross-country trip. We ended up getting separated, and I don't know where she is now." Seeing the expression on the Autobot's face, he added quickly, "Maria can take care of herself, though. No need to worry about her."

The sound of a drum roll suddenly came from Matt's left pocket, and he pulled out an iPhone with a case that had a jackal-like creature using Aura Sphere with an orange-brown background.

The boy was surprised. "Huh. Never thought I'd get reception here...." He held it up to his ear. "Hello?"

:: _Matt! Thank goodness you're all right!::_

Matt's eyes widened. "Maria? Where are you?"

:: _Dakota City with Static and Gear in their base. Tell me where you are so I can go and pick you up before we head for Mt. Justice::_

"Uh, I'm afraid it won't be that easy...." Matt looked at the Autobots and humans present. "I'm kind of in...well, probably the area you were probably aiming for in the first place."

:: _Wait-what?! You're with the robots?!::_

"Yup."

_::Oh, you're so lucky! I'll try to see if I can work my way over there. Until then, try and make friends with them, 'kay?::_

"I'll see what I can do.... Say, Maria, do you know anything about powers suddenly appearing to of nowhere?"

The was silence on the other end, then, :: _You didn't...shoot, what's a good word..._ manifest _, did you?::_

"Kinda. Threw an Aura Sphere at a Con, but I couldn't get it back after that."

:: _...OK. I'm definitely going to see about working my way over there eventually...wherever that is::_ Maria let out a laugh. _::Static and Gear are ready to go. I'll have talk to you later. If you want to call me, talk to me in an hour or three::_ The line was quickly disconnected.

As Matt put his phone back in his pocket, he caught sight of the stares he was getting from the Autobots and humans. "That was my sister. Apparently, she's in that Dakota place you mentioned, Jack."

Jack's eyes widened slightly, but Arcee's optics narrowed.

"There's something about you that I don't trust," she muttered, looking Matt over. "You wouldn't happen to be working with the Decepticon-humans, would you?"

Matt gave the Autobot a curious look. "Who? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Arcee."

Matt's head turned, and his eyes widened as he saw who was approaching. A titanic Autobot colored in red, blue, and silver approached the group.

"Who is this human?" the Autobot inquired in a low rumble.

"My name is Matthew, sir." Matt felt like he needed to add the word out of respect to the Autobot he was looking up at. "My friends call me Matt."

"He was in the woods with the other three when Starscream was chasing them, Optimus," Arcee explained. "He has a sister somewhere in the Midwest, apparently."

The tall Autobot got down on one knee so that he could get a better look at Matt. "What were you doing there, Matthew?"

Matt let out a sigh. He could get the feeling that he wasn't going to be able to lie to this Autobot. "I don't know whether you'll believe this or not...." Letting out another sigh, he looked up into Optimus' stern optics. "My sister and I traveled here from another world because she got the notion that something bad was going to happen. I came along for the ride because I asked. On the way through a portal she'd made, the two of us got separated -- I ended up in that forest, while Maria got blasted to Dakota in the Midwest."

"Wait." Matt's attention turned to Miko. "You mean that you're an _alien_?"

Matt looked a little nervous at the thought. "I guess...only, there's pretty much nothing that's different between our two worlds. Other than the fact that the -- Cybertronians, right? -- exist on this world."

"Are you saying that you're from an alternate Earth?" Raf came forward and gave Matt a curious look.

"I think that would probably be closer to the truth." Matt let out a sigh. "Honestly, this is only the second time that I've gone off-world. Maria would probably be able to explain it better than I ever could, but when she hung up, she said that she was heading for Mt. Justice with Static and Gear, so I don't know if I'll be able to talk to her for a while."

"Mt. Justice?" Arcee gave Matt a curious look. "What kind of a landmark name is that?"

"It's a place that's run by superheroes," Jack replied. "At least, from what we've heard. The mountain's been off-limits to everyone, so we can't even get even half a mile away."

"They must have a good reason, Jack." Optimus stood up to his full height. "Ratchet, I'm counting on you to keep an eye on Matthew."

A red and white Autobot who had been watching from the computers looked at Optimus in alarm. "What? Why me?"

"Bulkhead has me, Arcee's got Jack, and Bumblebee's with Raf," Miko listed, counting off on her fingers. "No one else really have an opening."

"And I'm not exactly from the area, so I don't have any other place to stay," Matthew added. "I can stay out of your way when you need me to."

Ratchet's optics narrowed, but then he let out a grunt and turned back to the computers.

"He'll warm up to you eventually," Miko stated. Her eyes sparked with excitement as she looked Matt over. "Now how about you tell us what your world's like?"

Matt rubbed the back of his head, his eyes trained on the back of Ratchet's. "Well, there's nothing really much to talk about. Our planets are probably the same -- right down to their history."

Miko became a little deflated at this, unhappy that there wasn't really anything that she could learn.

"Probably the only things that are different are the Autobots..." Matt paused. "...and how often kids disappear to other worlds...."

"You mean what you and your sister did is common?" Arcee moved to stand next to Jack.

"At least, in our neighborhood," Matt admitted. "I've got a neighbor -- a girl named Khrista -- who somehow managed to, along with me and my younger brother, get kidnapped and taken to another planet. Now, she's traveled to other places about three times, counting our first run-in, and Khrista's pretty much a walking genetic experiment."

"Genetic experiment?" Ratchet looked down at Matt curiously, the computers left alone. "Do you mind elaborating on that?"

"Uh...sure, I guess. That world we were sent to had creatures that were capable of doing things that the animals here can't -- spewing fire, firing beams of energy at their targets -- that sort of thing. Khrista got a genetic bath of the DNA of every creature on that world, and now she can use all their abilities whenever she feels like it."

"Is Khrista on your world, as well?" Optimus caught Matt's attention, now.

"No. Well, she lives in our world, but she left for another place before my sister and I did," Matt explained.

Ratchet frowned slightly, going over the knowledge he had been given.

Raf, meanwhile, went over to his laptop. "What were those creatures called?"

"Pokemon," Matt replied. He caught the humans' stares. "What? Of course they exist!"

"It's not that." Raf showed Matt a picture on his laptop. "It's just that you've been describing the events of a video game!" Sure enough, there was a picture of Khrista standing on the front cover of a Wii game case, some sort of energy collection around her hands as her shirt was shifting colors -- going from red to sky blue, a yellow Master Ball in the center of her chest. In the background, there was a dark world with Cyrus' Galactic citadel, surrounded by an angry looking green Chinese dragon-creature at the top.

Matt nodded. "That happened in our world, too. Not long after we got home, Khrista was contacted by the Pokemon Company. About a year or so later, they came up with a video game version of what she had gone through. It's gotten to be pretty famous -- and Khrista through it."

"I've played through it," Miko admitted. "Not what I had expected."

Matt was going to continue the conversation with his own opinion on the game when the elevator doors near where Ratchet stood suddenly opened.

"Prime!" An African American man with a bit of a belly came out of the elevator, an annoyed look on his face. "We picked up some sort of energy blast in two different places! If those Decepticons are up to something--"

"Excuse me?" The man's attention moved to Matt. "Was one of them in Dakota City?"

The man's eyes narrowed. "Who are you, boy?"

"Matthew White, sir," Matt replied, remembering what Maria had used as an adoptive last name. "My sister and I were traveling to this world, and we were separated by accident. She called not too long ago and said she had ended up in Dakota."

"Matthew, I don't know how hard you hit your head, but that has to be the stupidest excuse of a story that I have ever heard."

"He speaks the truth, Agent Fowler," Optimus stated calmly. "Matthew does not seem to be one who can lie so easily."

Agent Fowler gave Optimus a look of surprise, then let out a sigh. "All right. So, kid -- are you part of an alien invasion or something?"

Matt gave Fowler a look of surprise, then burst out laughing. "That's a laugh and a half!" When he had recovered from his laughter fit, he explained, "Maria came here because she sensed that something bad was going to happen, and she let me come along for the ride." He felt everyone's eyes suddenly train on him.

"You mentioned that before." Arcee moved over to Matt and got down on one knee to give the human a closer look. "Would you mind being a little more specific?"

Matt rubbed the back of his neck as he thought back to what had happened in the family kitchen. "Well, she gets these visions once and a while -- something about her power core warning her of things to come. This time around...she seems pretty certain that something could happen that would send you guys over to the bad guys. There called Decepticons, right?"

Silence reigned over the base.

"I-I don't know whether she's--" Matt started to say.

"You don't need to try and defend her." Arcee got back up to her full height. "It seems as though she might be keeping something from you. Whatever it is, that's probably the key to this mystery of yours."

"Visions like that are usually portrayed as being pretty vague, though," Raf remarked. "Whatever Maria's seen, she probably hasn't seen the whole picture yet."

Jack nodded in agreement. "That's probably it. Has anything like this happened before?"

Matt frowned. "At least once or twice, I think. This was the first time that I was there when she had one, though...."

"We can probably look into this later." Ratchet was commanding attention again. "Jack, Miko, and Raphael should return to their homes."

"Aw!" Miko tried to give Ratchet a pleading look. "But I want to talk to Matt some more!"

"No buts," the medical Autobot stated sourly. "We don't want your parents to start to wonder when you've been out for longer than usual."

Optimus' gaze moved to Bumblebee and Bulkhead, who quickly transformed into a yellow-and-black muscle car and a green armored truck of some sort. Raf and Miko climbed into the respective cars -- Miko sending one last look at Matt before seeing the look Optimus was sending -- and Ratchet activated the Ground Bridge, sending the four on their way.

Arcee had transformed into motorcycle mode and Jack was about to climb on when Optimus stated, "Jack. Matthew needs to know of what has happened here since you joined the team."

Jack looked up at the Autobot in surprise. "Me? You could probably tell him just as easily, Optimus."

"I think it would be better that someone of his species handle that."

Jack exchanged looks with Matt as Arcee went back to robot mode. "All right, then. I guess I'll start with the whole zombie problem."

"Zombies?" Matt's eyes widened. "You have _got_ to be kidding."

"Unfortunately, I'm not. There's this substance called Dark Energon, which Megatron used to reanimate dead Cybertronians -- like a recently killed Autobot named Cliffjumper. He tried to use it on Cybertron and bring the zombies through a Space Bridge, but the Autobots blew it up before he could. We all thought he was dead by then, but Starscream pretty much --"

"Hey! Slow down!" Matt exclaimed with a half-laugh. "I don't know half the stuff that you're talking about. You probably mentioned it before, but what are Cybertronians?"

"That would be us," Arcee replied. "Both Autobots _and_ Decepticons."

Matt blinked, and a moment later, his eyes widened as the facts hit him. "Are you saying you guys are aliens?"

"You're one, aren't you?"

Matt sighed and shook his head. "Same planet, different dimension." He looked over at Jack. "And Dark Energon?"

"It kinda looks like purple energy crystals or something," Jack replied. "Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, used it to raise the dead. I wasn't there when it happened, though."

"I wouldn't think that you would be." Matt looked over at Arcee. "I'd hate to see what a full-scale battle between you guys gets to be like."

"It doesn't exactly get to be pretty," Arcee agreed.

"So, what happened next?"

"Some time after Starscream took over, the computers picked up a signal coming from outer space -- an Autobot life signal. It actually turned out to be a Con disguised as a bot named Wheeljack, but the real Autobot showed up later to kick his can. Wheeljack left, though, but we don't know where he went."

Matt frowned. "Wheeljack?" he repeated. Something about the name sounded familiar.... "Is he some sort of crazy scientist or something?"

Jack's eyebrows rose. "Scientist? Wheeljack's a Wrecker, like Bulkhead. They're kind of crazy warriors or something. What made you think he was a scientist?"

"Uh...just a guess."

"He has been known to have some weird ideas once in a while," Arcee noted, "but he's no scientist."

"Oh. All right, then." Matt looked over at Jack. "So, what happened after that?"


	4. Chapter 4

Maria let of a whistle as she, Static, and Gear entered the mountain that was now the Justice League's ground base. She had kept up with the episodes of _Young Justice_ as best she could, but now she could see that the TV show was far behind.

"How many supercomputers are in this place?" Maria asked, her systems pointing out every single plug-in point on the consoles in the area.

"I think there are about...ten." Gear had been warming up to Maria a little over the drive there -- especially considering how Maria had explained how the MegaBuster could morph into her regular arm and back. The Reploid had no doubt in her mind that Gear was considering creating a Robot Master of his own -- without messing with the copyright laws of that world, of course. "You know, you don't seem to be as excited as I thought you'd be in meeting Batman."

"That's because she's already met him."

The three stopped upon seeing a young man appear out of the shadows and step on front of them. His costume was a pure black jumpsuit, with a dark blue, V-like shape that appeared to have feathers coming up from the center of his chest and stopping at his shoulders. On his face, there was a mask around his eyes, but nothing else was needed.

"Maria," the figure greeted.

"Hey, Nightwing," Mara replied calmly. "How's your group holding up?"

"Fine." He motioned for the three to follow him. "Batman saw you come in. He wanted to speak with you three about something that caught our attention some time ago." He started to walk further into the cave, Maria following without hesitation. Static and Gear, after looking at each other a moment, dashed after them.

At the end of the path, they reached a platform that had what appeared to be a copy of Batman's personal super computer. Standing in front of it was the Dark Knight himself, looking over a map of the world. Certain spots were colored red, while others were dotted with blue or green, causing Maria to frown at their odd placements on the map.

"Hi, Batman," Maria greeted calmly. "What's up?"

"The Watchtower has been picking up strange signals from all across the world," Batman responded. "We're still not sure as to whether or not they are of Reach origin, but I would doubt that, considering what they're busy with at present."

"Some sort of court trial, I'm guessing?"

Static gave her a look. "Now how did you know that?"

"Where I come from, I've got access to all sorts of knowledge, remember? I heard about this incident from a cartoon on my world." Maria stepped forward to have a closer look at the map, frowning slightly at one red dot. "There's one all the way down in Antarctica?"

"Was," Batman corrected. "The green ones are what I'm worried about. They seem to be artifacts of some sort...."

"And the blue ones?"

"Energy deposits of some kind." This time, it was Nightwing who gave the answer. "We found some sort of blue crystal from one of the deposit sites that doesn't match any Earth element." He pressed a button on the supercomputer's dashboard, bringing up a blue crystal on the screen. "When we tried to suck the power from it, it almost caused Mt. Justice to overload."

Maria's eyes went over the data. "It would make sense that would happen. And that it wouldn't match up as an Earthen element." She looked up at Batman. "It kind of reminds me of a power source I've seen a couple times already -- one is my power source, and the other is one that exists in the Capcom Kingdom."

Gear blinked, his eyes widening. "Capcom?"

The Reploid looked over at him. "Yeah. You know -- MegaMan?" She returned her gaze to the Dark Knight. "One of Wily's bases had that power source in the center. We blew up the whole thing from there out."

"I doubt this came from there," Batman replied. "There are multiple deposits of this energy crystal across the planet."

"Okay...." Maria frowned. "That must mean it was out here by an alien force, but not the Reach. That much I know...." She let out a hiss as a headache suddenly blossomed, and she shut her eyes tightly.

_\-- Giant robot figures breaking off crystals -- large cubes of a glowing blue substance -- ENERGON --_

Maria blinked her eyes open, surprise clear on her face.

"Programming issue?" Gear guessed, concerned.

Maria shook her head as she looked back at the teenager. "No. It was a vision of something I'd read before. But, normally I get visions when I already know what's going on...and I definitely don't this time. Something else must be going on that's affecting me." Her gaze returned to Batman, and she stated, "Apparently, the crystals are called Energon, and I was right -- it _does_ come from another planet."

"Where?"

"I think it's called Cybertron...and the aliens that use it look like giant robots."

Static gave Maria a weird look; the Reploid could feel his eyes digging into the back of her head. "Are you serious?"

"Completely. There're _definitely_ not the Reach."

"But...giant robots?" Gear frowned slightly. "There has to be another force -- maybe someone who created them?"

Maria got _another_ headache, and she let out a hiss as something else slipped into her mind: -- _a giant hole in the ground -- glowing balls of energy -- monstrous metal beings with sentience --_

Maria shook her head. "Their...planet is where they're created."

"Right. I wouldn't have guessed," Gear said sarcastically."

Maria ignored him. "Like...the core splits them off in...sparks." Somehow, the wording seemed right. Looking over at Gear, she added, "They're sentient on their own; a metallic version of us...." Another headache _\-- shifting--changing--_ "...with...transformation capabilities?"

"You sounded unsure at that last part," Static remarked.

"You try to make sense of the visions I'm getting." Maria let out an annoyed sigh and dug her left thumb into her temples. "It was bad enough the first time I was off-world. I don't know why they've started to pop up so quickly." She shook her head. "At least I'm getting _some_ information that I didn't know before."

"Do you have any idea as to whether they're friendly or not?" Nightwing asked.

"Some are, some aren't," Maria replied quickly. "That much I know for certain. The stories I read off the fan-based website had the words mostly blocked out, but I could make out some things -- like how the bad guys pretty much killed the planet in an attempt to get rid of the good guys. Now they're pretty much scattered across the universe, and the ones here on Earth are hiding somewhere on this continent. I doubt there's ever going to be a chance that you'll meet them face to face unless they want you to."

 _*Or face to grill, if they're in vehicle mode*_ said a voice at the back of Maria's head.

Batman's eyes narrowed. "What you're saying doesn't help us very much."

"Well, it's not helping me, either," the Reploid replied. "I think all we can say for sure at this point is that if anyone tries to get their hands on Energon, we'll have to stockpile it until we end up running into them sometime." Another thought came to mind, and she added, "Or I could contact them through my brother and have them come over for the Energon. It could go either way."

"Your _brother_?" Nightwing repeated. "Since when do you have a brother?"

"Since he was born before me." Maria gave a slight smirk and a shrug. "I can still contact him by his phone, since it's connected directly to my com-link system. That way, I can tell him if we have any Energon or not." Maria gave Batman a curious look, wondering what the Dark Knight would say in response to her statement.

Batman's eyes narrowed as he looked over at the Reploid, considering her statement. "Fine. But you're going to have to help collect the Energon from the deposits we have discovered." He turned to face the computer again and brought back up the map before zooming in on a blue dot.

Maria shrugged. "Fine by me. Do you have anyplace in mind?"

Batman didn't answer her directly, instead turning his head to look at Nightwing. "Get a team together. I'm expecting you to be back here in a few hours."

Nightwing nodded. "Right." Motioning for the other three to follow him, Nightwing walked away down one of the paths, Maria and the two from Dakota following behind.

"Has anyone tried to go after the Energon other than what you've picked up?" Maria asked.

"We originally found it from a vault that was protected by some of Black Manta's group," Nightwing explained. "If we're going out, I'd suspect that we're going to be going after another one." He nodded to Static and Gear. "You two are going to be helping out, so don't go home just yet."

"Us? Help out you guys?" Gear looked like he was getting jumpy from excitement. Static smirked, also excited.

"Calm down," Maria stated. "We'll need that energy out there."

Gear nodded, but he still looked like he was ready to start celebrating at the prospect.

Nightwing motioned to a door to their right. "You guys can wait in there until I can get the rest of the team together."

Maria gave Nightwing a quick smile. "Thanks." The smile faded. "Just keep in mind that I'm a bit of a habitual fire user. I don't want to end up scaring anyone to death when I start throwing Fire Spheres at whoever we're going against." Ignoring the looks she was getting from Static and Gear, she slipped through the door, finding herself in what appeared to be a kitchen and living room combined. The smile started to play one her face again as Static and Gear entered.

"Why did you tell Nightwing that?" Static asked, frowning.

"I was thinking about a possible teammate," Maria replied, the smile diminishing. "Martians don't exactly like fire." She opened the fridge and started to go through its contents. "Considering I'm going to need my strength...."

"Wait." Gear had Maria's ears, now. "How is it that you would be able to eat any of that? You're a robot."

"Dr. Light adjusted my systems with human habits in mind," Maria responded. "All part of a grand charade that allowed me to keep secret what I was until I deemed it time to tell those around me." She started to pull out ham, Swiss cheese, and a loaf of bread. "You two want to make something? I just need something to make sure that my power core doesn't burn out from all the energy usage."

Maria didn't move out of surprise when Static started pulling out other items using his electro-magnetic abilities. Within moments, the Dakota teen had managed to get himself a pretty thick sandwich.

"I haven't eaten since lunch," he explained between bites.

Gear rolled his eyes and chuckled, then started going through the sandwich-making food items, eventually coming up with his own equally-thick sandwich. Maria made a sandwich, as well, but hers was thinner than the boys -- she never did had an appetite like theirs.

"So, you can use fire? Like Hot Streak?" Gear had managed to finish off his sandwich pretty quickly, making Maria wonder how long ago _he_ had eaten.

Maria nodded. "I picked up the ability when I originally started world-jumping, and it's power has increased since. Fire Sphere is my basic attack -- besides the MegaBuster, of course -- and if I need to, I can increase the power to go into White Flare mode."

"White Flare mode?" Static wiped a bit of mustard off his face with the back of a purple sleeve. "What's that do?"

"A can send tendrils of white fire out at the nearest enemy. I haven't really experimented with it much, since it doesn't really last for long, but so far, I've been able to grab people and throw people around with it...as well as cause a lot of burn damage. For instance, Metal Man, one of Dr. Wily's creations, was melted into a pile of slag just because I really wanted to get rid of him."

Gear's eyes widened. "Wow. That's a lot of power."

"And it takes a lot out of me. If Dr. Light hadn't added a power regulator to my systems, I wouldn't have been able to do much during the Smash Worlds Tournament."

"Smash Worlds Tournament?"

The group's heads turned, catching sigh of an eighteen-year-old boy wearing a black shirt with the Superman insignia entering the room.

"That thing Dick mentioned two weeks ago?" The boy's blue eyes narrowed. "What were you doing there?"

"I was invited, like him," Maria replied. "The name's Maria; I'm going to be sticking around for a few days."

"Connor." The boy tore open the fridge, then gave Static and Gear a glare and slammed it shut. "Dick said that you're going on a mission with us."

Maria nodded. "I told Batman a few things about the Energon crystals, and I think he wants us to go get some more before that Light group can get their hands on it."

Connor raised an eyebrow at this. "Is that what those crystals are called? Energon?"

Maria nodded again. "I know a few people who would be able to use it -- people who are on our side, in a way."

"In what way?" Static seemed to be more than ready to jump in and try to get more information on Maria's strange friends.

The Reploid smirked. "Maybe I'll fill in you guys later. These people aren't exactly willing to show their faces in public as often as you do."

"Really?" Maria turned her attention back to Connor, who had crossed his arms over his chest. "The way you're saying it, it sounds like you could be a double agent." The teen's eyes narrowed.

Maria frowned, mentally cursing her incompetence -- honestly, she should have known better by this point. "Great. Looks like I've dug myself a pit." She let out a sigh. "I'll tell you guys when Nightwing gets the team together, all right?"

Connor's eyes narrowed further, and the boy nodded. "Fair enough." He walked over to the door. "Dick wanted you to know that we'll be meeting at the command center for debriefing in an hour." With that, Connor walked out.

"He gets to be less distant as you get to know him," Static assured Maria.

Maria let out only a sigh in response. "Why am I getting the feeling that this is going to be a long night?"


	5. Chapter 5

"...So, after Megatron disappeared, those Decepticon-humans Arcee mentioned showed up?" Matt felt like he was getting more of a grip on this world, now -- it sounded as though some events were oddly familiar, though....

"They jumped in only recently," Jack replied. "They've been calling themselves MECH for some reason. When Agent Fowler ended up crashing his plane and asked for help transferring this thing called the Dingus, they showed up and tried to take it. They've been bothering us ever since."

"Huh." Matt frowned slightly. "But what would these people want with the Cybertronians?"

"We don't know." Jack shrugged. "But ever since Megatron ended up coming back, everyone's been on their toes -- especially after that whole Reach thing that happened before Megatron came back."

Matt's eyebrows shot up. "Reach?"

"Yeah. Some group of aliens that decided that they wanted to help and make our planet's tech better. Raf thought they were pretty suspicious, and it turns out that he was right. Bulkhead sent one of their ships flying and even helped destroy some sort of metal thing that they had planted in the Arctic when they left." Jack frowned slightly. "I still can't help but shake the feeling that he saw something happen there. He was brooding in a corner for a couple hours, and wouldn't tell us much about what had happened down there."

Matt frowned slightly. "I think I heard something about that.... Maria watches all kinds of cartoons at home -- and I stumbled in one Saturday morning when she was right in the middle of a season finale."

Jack gave the otherworld visitor a curious look. "What was going on?"

"The Reach were leaving, but they had decided to get rid of Earth by destroying its magnetic field or something. Anyway, these super-powered kids -- part of the Justice League -- managed to take out most of them before they could do any damage. They found the last one in the Arctic, and it would have caused the whole planet to fall apart if it wasn't for Flash, Impulse, and Kid Flash. According to what I _saw_ , Kid Flash ended up getting turned into energy and he disappeared. Left a girlfriend behind from the look of things, too."

Matt rubbed the back of his head and hoped to sink even further into the fading green couch. Something was bugging him at the back of his head, but he ignored it as he continued with something his sister had thought up. "Although, I don't know whether or not that actually happened here. Maria told me a couple times that what happened on TV could be the Prime Zone, which is an area nobody can get to. Our presences here, or perhaps even other events, could have led to different things taking place, or even events we saw take place in a different order."

"You're giving me a headache!" Jack complained with a laugh. "Well, there seems to be only one way to find out, right? We could ask Maria about her take on the situation."

Matt nodded and grabbed his iPhone from his pocket, but then paused. "If she's in Mt. Justice, then she could be getting ready for something they want her to do. If I know Maria, she's probably going to try to run a couple missions with them before trying to get to us."

Jack frowned. "You think so?"

Matt nodded again, his iPhone going back into his pocket. "She told me that, when she was transformed into a Vulpix, she went through a few mazes and talked to a lot of Pokemon in order to get a feel for what was going on in the area. It would make sense that she intends to do the same here."

"Your sister is smart." Arcee walked over to the platform that the couch was sitting on. "Recon is usually the best way to gain information."

"I think she might have learned that lesson doubly when she was in the Capcom realm," Matt muttered.

"Capcom?" Jack seemed to recognize the name. "You mean the people that made that robot game? MegaMan?"

"MegaMan?" Arcee repeated while Matt nodded.

"Maria had a dream from there a couple months back," Matt explained. "As soon as she got there, she was attacked by some rogue 'bot who hurt her badly. She managed to melt it, but it didn't leave her with much strength. According to Maria, next she knew was that she had been transferred into a prototype Reploid shell and has been in it ever since."

Jack's eyes widened. "Your sister is a robot?"

"She prefers Reploid," Matt corrected. "She said it was short for 'Replicating Android' or something like that. Dr. Light apparently made it so that she could still have her emotions working." He shrugged. "You'll have to ask her in order to get the full story. Whenever we meet her."

"Your family is a strange one, Matthew," Optimus noted as he came over.

"I'm aware of it," Matt replied with a shrug. "The thing I can't stand, though, is that I can't seem to be able to summon the power I hit Starscream with...."

"Power?" Arcee frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Matt threw some sort of energy ball at Starscream," Jack explained.

"Aura Sphere," Matt corrected. "I probably ended up getting some Pokemon DNA or something back when I got taken to that other world.... Either that, or I've got something like Maria did."

"Care to explain?" Arcee looked more closely at Matt.

"According to Maria, she somehow managed to access some sort of power when she first went world-jumping. Now she can throw fireballs whenever she feels like it." Matt shook his head out of amazement. "And she got it without any Pokemon DNA in her system, either. Maria claim's it's magic."

"Magic doesn't exist!" Ratchet called out from across the base.

"Tell that to Maria!"

Jack suddenly jumped a little as a beeping noise resounded from his pocket. He pulled out a gray flip phone. "It's Mom. She's probably wondering when I'm getting home." He flipped the phone open and answered it. "Hey, Mom. Yeah, I'm still at the base. No, I'm fine, Mom. Yes, I'll be coming home soon. Bye." He shut the phone and put it back in his pocket as he stood up. "I've gotta go."

Optimus nodded slightly. "Ratchet, activate the Ground Bridge." Jack ran down to the ground floor of the base as the portal activated, Arcee transforming into her motorcycle mode.

"See you tomorrow, Matt," Jack called with a quick wave.

"See ya," Matt replied. He watched as the two disappeared into the Ground Bridge. "If it's all right with you guys, I can sleep on the couch."

"You do realize that we don't have any human food in the area," Ratchet warned.

"I can probably go out with Jack later and get something." Matt made himself a little more comfortable on the couch, taking advantage of being the only one on it. "I can survive until morning."

Optimus looked at Matt for a moment longer before going off to take care of something else that he had to do, leaving Ratchet to look the human over curiously as Matt drifted off to sleep. When he was sure that the human was deep enough in slumber, Ratchet scanned the boy and brought up the results on the built-in screen he had in his arm.

"What are you, Matthew?" the medic murmured.


	6. Chapter 6

"We're going to invade WHERE?!"

"One of Luthor's storage facilities." Batman didn't seem as disturbed as the others when they saw the excited look on Maria's face. "We've been picking up an energy signal identical to that of the natural deposits. I want you to check it out. Flare-Up."

Maria looked at Batman directly, seriousness appearing on her face, as well as repressed excitement. They had agreed on her code-name a couple hours ago -- in fact, it was Gear who had suggested it. It was obvious that the Reploid was pleased with her new title.

"I want you to explain about what you know about the crystals," the Dark Knight stated. The data from the Energon crystals appeared on the computer screen behind him.

Maria nodded, then turned to look more at the others. "All right. The energy crystals are called Energon, and they can be used for fuel, but only a certain type of technology can access the energy safely -- without causing a power overload. They're called Cybertronians."

"Cybertronians?" Connor frowned. "You have got to be kidding me. That sounds like it came out of a computer game or something."

_" The child has to be lying."_

Maria looked over at a teenager in blue and black armor, who was glancing at his back for some reason.

 _"Cybertron_ died _\-- the Reach watched it happen from afar,"_ the voice insisted.

"Jaime Reyes, please kindly tell your Scarab that there are some of the Cybertronians here. On Earth," Maria stated flatly, her arms across her chest.

The Reploid thought back to the slightly-censored fan-based stories she had read, recalling what it was that the good-guy leader said every time -- that war drove them to flee here....

Jaime gave her a look of shock, and the Scarab that made up his armor started to splutter, looking for an excuse or a retort. "H-how did you--"

"You're looking at a mechanical marvel, guys," Maria grinned. "I'm a human who was transferred into a _robotic_ body. Owe my life to the doc who did it."

She looked back at the Energon crystal. "Anyway, Energon crystals appeared here..." _Rockets -- maps of stars --_ "...when the Cybertronians sent spoils of war out into the galaxy. Some of it ended up landing here. When their planet died because of their war, those who _could_ split for all four corners of the galaxy, looking for a new home. Unfortunately, the war still continues -- the two factions have been trying to extinguish each other since this whole thing started. The one group are the kind of Cybertronian who try to defend all life forms -- the bad guys just want to rule and turn everything into a mechanical paradise with those who survive as slaves."

"And what does this Energon stuff have to do with them?" Gear had been going over the energy data before the briefing, and it looked like he was ready to start chipping pieces off the supply and start to try to use it to power his tech.

"I told you already, Gear, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to explain again." Maria shrugged. "Energon is the Cybertronian equivalent of food, blood, electricity.... Let's just say that they need it to live in general." Maria rubbed the back of her head nervously, then added, "Also...Cybertronians are transforming robots."

"Robots?" Jamie sounded skeptical.

Superboy snorted. "Ok, now I've heard everything."

"Scarab?" Jamie looked back, trying to prompt an answer from the Reach tech.

_ "She speaks the truth, Jaime Reyes. They are a powerful race, and have given Reach allies a butt-kicking in the past." _

"But who would ally themselves with the Reach?" Jamie muttered.

Maria frowned. "It has to be an enemy of the Cybertronians, obviously...." She shook her head. "That doesn't matter now, though. We should probably get back to the mission at hand. If Luthor can figure out how to use the Energon to his advantage, then he'd probably find those other spoils of war that are scattered around the world, and who knows how long the world will survive after that."

Batman looked over at Maria with a narrow-eyed expression, then nodded. "Flare-Up, Static, and Gear are to infiltrate through the ventilation ducts. Nightwing, you and Blue Beetle can take the rooftops. Everyone else will be a ground force."

Superboy folded his arms across his chest and smirked, his gaze turning to the blond-haired girl with a tiger mask, a boy with red hair in a yellow jumpsuit with a red lightning bolt on his chest, and a green-skinned boy in a red-and-white outfit. "All right."

"I don't see what you should be grinning about." Tigress gave Superboy a cold look. "Attacking one of Luthor's facilities could end up attracting a lot of unwanted attention. Especially considering what might be inside."

"We'll have to be prepared, then," Maria responded. She smirked, then looked up at Batman. "When are we heading out?"

"Within the hour." The Dark Knight nodded to Nightwing. "Take it from here." He gave Maria another look, and then walked down a corridor, disappearing into the shadows.

Nightwing nodded. "Right." He nodded to Maria. "I know you're not telling us everything."

"It's not my right to," Maria answered truthfully. "Besides, I know very little. When we meet a Cybertronian face-to-face, though, I'll let you know. They can tell you their own history -- I didn't come from their planet, so I don't have the right."

_ "You may as well have come from there." _

"Shut up, Scarab."

**Spacial Break**

"Ratchet, what are you doing? Shouldn't you be recharging or something?"

Ratchet looked up from the computers, catching sight of a familiar face. "I could ask you the same, Matthew."

"Just call me Matt. Please." Matthew leaned against the railing, watching the Cybertronian writing on the computer screen. "I can't help but notice that you're interested in my DNA for some reason." He pointed to what appeared to be a schematic of his body -- no doubt from the scan that Ratchet had taken. "Why the sudden interest?"

"What you said about that power of yours...." Ratchet motioned to the data. "You appear to have a power build-up in you, but I can't tell as to where it might have originated from...."

"When I used it, it felt like it was coming out of my chest," Matt admitted. "Right when I decided that I needed to protect Jack, Raf, and Miko from Starscream. Gave him a good dent in the wing for it, but the ability didn't come back after that...."

"Hmmm...." Ratchet gave Matt a thoughtful look. "It sounds like you have yet to gain full control of your abilities."

"I only found out about it today. Probably the only way to get me to learn is if there was someone nearby in my situation."

Ratchet frowned, glanced at the computers, then looked back. "You can probably learn how to harness your ability on your own -- all we need is a trigger of some sort...."

"A trigger?"

"Something that will activate those abilities of yours...." Ratchet trailed off. "You should get some sleep, Matthew. You need it more than I do."

"I'm used to staying up until midnight, Ratchet."

"My work would probably bore you to sleep."

Matt smirked at what Ratchet had stated in the Autobot's sour manner. "Yeah, you're probably right." He made his way back to the couch. "You should get some sleep too, Ratchet. If the others saw you in an even grumpier mood than normal, it might not be too good for them or you."

Ratchet frowned, feeling a little foolish at being told off by a human. "I can afford going without recharging. Humans can't."

"There are some humans who can live on five hours of rest. Others can even go as far as only needing half an hour." Matt smirked as he lay back down on the couch. "Night."

As Matt fell back asleep, Ratchet gave the screen another careful look before letting out a sigh and putting the computer on standby. He then, after sending one last look at Matt, disappeared into the shadows to power down for the night.


	7. Chapter 7

"Whoa!"

Maria ducked incoming laser fire and sent back an answer with her Buster. Glaring at the figure as they collapsed from the stun attack, she motioned for the two figures behind her to follow. "That guy doesn't look like any one of Luthor's. Have you guys seen anyone dressed like that before?"

Static frowned from his perch on his "flying saucer disk," then shook his head. "Whoever dresses completely in green like that probably is partnered up with Luthor or something, not working under him."

"This tech doesn't look like anything that Light group could have come up with," Gear remarked, taking the laser gun in his hands. "It looks too advanced."

Maria's eyes narrowed as she looked over the figure in front of him. "Well, where there's one, there's probably more." She pressed her left ear and stated, "We're starting to run into opposition over here. A man dressed in green right down to his toes with tech that isn't Luthor's."

There was static on the other end, then, :: _This is Blue Beetle! Nightwing and I ran into a couple huge 'bots not too long ago. Scarab called them "Vehicons" or something. Any idea what he means?::_

Maria's eyes widened. "The bad Cybertronians use those as cannon fodder! Those things are as common as mud, but as deadly as attaching someone to a tank and letting them run loose. Keep out of the way of their blaster fire and try to find a way to take them out. And be warned -- where there's one, there's usually more."

_::I'll be keeping that in mind::_

"Did you say Cybertronians?" Gear asked, wide-eyed.

"Vehicons," Maria muttered. "The lowest in the corrupted army. The basic soldiers who usually get their Sparks pulled out before their commanders ever do." Her Buster started to glow a little as she sent more energy into it. "We'd better keep moving - if we don't get to the Energon, they most certainly will."

Static took note of the look on Maria's face and gulped. "If looks could kill, yours could kill Batman."

"Not even close. If looks could kill, Batman would still be able to kill me _."_ Maria took out a wall ahead of them with a charged shot. "Let's keep moving. I hate it when people turn into sitting ducks to let the enemy get the drop on them." She continued forward, the Dakota heroes following.

"If Vehicons are the soldiers, where's the commander?" Gear gave Maria a nervous look.

"Commanding them from afar...or somewhere close." Maria set her systems on the alert, having them scan for anything that might match something she had read about the villains. "I'm not detecting any Sparks that might be related to them. Let's go." She led the two down a corridor, stopping short in front of a stainless steel door that looked like it led into a safe. "Hello."

"Do you think this is it?" Gear eyed the door warily while Backpack moved off his back and onto the wall to inspect the lock.

"Only one way to find out." Maria walked forward and stopped at the wall, putting an ear to the door as Backpack started to work at the lock. "Hmmm...." She pulled back and scanned the door. "I wonder if Luthor lined this thing with lead like every other building of his."

"Why would he do that?" Static looked around, frowning.

"Privacy reasons. Luthor doesn't want Superman peering in unwanted."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense."

"Hey! Static!"

A large fireball suddenly struck Static in the back, causing him to fall off the metal disk. Maria's head turned quickly, catching sight of a figure with fire glowing all around him at the end of the corridor.

"Who's your new girlfriend?" the figure asked cockily, a ball of fire forming in his hand.

"I am NOT his girlfriend!" Maria barked. "What are you doing here, Hot Shot? I saw you get arrested back in Dakota!"

"Luthor payed the bail," the teenager replied. His grin faded into a glare. "And it's HOT STREAK!" Another fireball was thrown, but this time it was in Maria's direction.

Maria smirked and shook her head as the attack neared. When the fireball was absorbed into her form, the smirk widened into a grin. "Thanks for the energy boost, Hot Streak!" Fire gathered in Maria's hands, creating a sphere that was as big as herself. "Now _this_ is a Fire Sphere!" She threw it at the unsuspecting Dakota Meta-human, who dodged out of the way as the attack went barreling down the hall.

Hot Streak looked in surprise as his arm -- the sleeve of his shirt having been burned off by the blast -- and then looked back at Maria. "What? You can use it, too?!"

Maria smirked. "The name's Flare-Up. Nice to beat you!" She fired off a Buster attack, sending Hot Streak flying into a wall, knocked out. "Now that was just too short." She looked back at Gear and Static. "You two all right?"

The two boys nodded, dumbfounded.

"Since when could you do that?" Gear asked. "You just absorbed Hot Streak's attack!"

"I picked it up a few years back," Maria replied calmly. "It's called Flash Fire, and it allows me to absorb fire-based attacks, raising my energy and attack power." She walked over to the steel door just as it creaked open. "All right. Let's see what's past here." She walked forward and pushed the door open the rest of the way, her eyes widening. "By the AllSpark...."

"AllSpark?" Gear gave Maria a curious look as Backpack climbed back up to its resting spot on his back.

"It's what creates the Sparks -- the souls -- of the Cybertronians." Maria's eyes were as wide as they could go. "But that's not what we're looking at."

Gear and Static looked through the doorway, and their eyes widened.

"What _is_ that?" Gear asked as he tilted his head back, looking up at the whatever-it-was in front of them.

"It looks like a robot with plane wings," Static remarked.

"Not just 'a 'bot with wings," Maria replied. She walked forward and put a hand on the strangely gray armor that covered the right leg of the figure. "This is a Cybertronian."

The Dakota duo looked at Maria in surprise.

"You have _got_ to be kidding," Static stated.

"I'm not." Maria activated her jet boosters and flew up along the giant robot's form and landed on the shoulder before marching over to the right side of the robot's head. Reaching a circular part of the head where an ear might be, she yelled, "Hey! You awake?"

The Reploid didn't get an answer. The Cybertronian didn't even look up or ask for who had spoken.

A frown came over Maria's face. "Something doesn't feel right about this."

"Hey -- it looks like there's a door over here!" Static called out. Maria looked down, watching as the electric hero walked over to a door not too far away from the Cybertronian that was chained upright. He grabbed the handle and opened it...only to gag and promptly shut it again.

"What is it?" Maria called down, concerned for her friend.

"It smells like a morgue in there!" Static declared, putting a hand over his nose while also waving the smell away from his face. "All I saw was a bunch of dark purple crystals that looked like a version of that Energon stuff!"

"Really?" Gear ran over and opened the door himself, only to react the same way that Static did. "Yeesh, that reeks! What kind of Energon is that?"

Maria frowned slightly. "Dark purple?" That, plus the fact that both boys had said it _stank_ , made Maria think back to all the video games she and her siblings played at home. "From what I can guess, that could be Energon gone bad."

"Can Energon go bad?" Gear gave a skeptical look.

"It's fuel." Maria shrugged.

"Yeah, but it's a crystal first." Gear looked over at the door for a moment, then looked back up at Gear. "Something tells me that something was done to it."

"If that's true, then --"

 _::Nightwing to Flare-Up, Static, and Gear::_ came a familiar voice over the com-link. _::We've got a problem::_

"What is it?" Maria asked, her hand shooting for her left ear. Static and Gear did the same.

 _::We found the mine, but the entire area is full of dark purple crystals that is making Kid Flash look_ very _sick. He isn't telling us why::_

Maria flinched. _\--glowing purple eyes--laughing in pain--dark purple fluid--_

"It's pretty much Dark Energon," Maria spoke up quickly. "We need to blow this whole place sky high -- that stuff isn't good for _anybody_."

_::Oh?::_

_::That stuff is some baaad mojo, Nightwing. This stuff has to go --_ now _::_

_::All right, all right! Set the charges as close to those crystals as you can. If the regular Energon is explosive, the Dark Energon probably is, too. We'll meet back at the rendezvous point -- ETA 15 minutes::_

"Got it, Nightwing." Maria nodded to the boys. "Let's get out of here before this entire place goes."

"Like I'm going to stick around," Gear agreed.


	8. Chapter 8

Matt awoke to the sound of Ratchet yelling.

"What gave you permission to access this private channel?! No one is supposed to know--"

 _::I am not "no one"::_ came an irritated response.

Matt sat upright on the couch and looked around quickly, catching sight of the angry medic standing in front of a computer screen. It was impossible for him to tell what sort of expression Ratchet had on his face, but just hearing that particular voice was enough to wake the teen up fully.

 _::I am a member of a completely organized team that has the right to hack into others' communications arrays if we find the need to::_ the voice continued. _::And that includes the communications arrays of any planetary visitors::_

Ratchet stiffened, then let out a string of mutterings under his breath that sounded like curses.

"Ratchet?" Matt stood up and looked over at the Autobot. "What's going on?"

The medic turned around and looked at the human. "A member of a team of human teenagers somehow managed to gain access to our communications systems and contacted us. The child has yet to introduce himself."

_::My name is Nightwing::_

"Nightwing?" Matthew repeated, his eyes widening. He quickly raised his voice. "You're with my sister, right? Maria? I'm her brother -- Matthew."

_::_ _I'm not with her right now. She says "hi," by the way::_

"Is there any _other_ reason why you decided to hack into our communications besides exchanging greetings?" Ratchet snapped shortly.

_::Yes. Lex Luthor had been keeping a dead Cybertronian above a mine of Dark Energon, which we blew up the other night::_

Matthew's eyes widened. "A _dead_ Cybertronian?!"

"Dark Energon?!" Ratchet repeated. "In a _mine_?!"

_::Yes and yes. Maria -- we're calling her Flare-Up -- has been trying to find you in order to arrange for an Energon transfer::_

"A transfer?" Ratchet frowned. "What do you mean?"

_::I mean that we have been sitting above a mine of regular Energon and Flare-Up wants it mined and sent to you guys::_

"How much Energon?"

Matthew gave a smirk. Ratchet almost sounded eager there. Maybe they were getting low on Energon -- or a surplus just sounded like a good idea.

_::A lot. It's not going to fit in your trunk or my plane's cockpit, I can tell you that::_

"That doesn't tell me anything," Ratchet growled in annoyance.

_::All right. You're going to need a couple trailers in order to drag it over to your base. Happy?::_

The medic made a spluttering noise, and Matthew had to hold back a laugh. Ratchet probably had a shocked look on his face, but the teenager couldn't exactly tell because all he saw was Ratchet's back.

A moment later, there was the sound of a metal door opening nearby, and Matthew could hear an engine revving.

 _::Who's there?::_ asked the voice.

"One of our number returning with their human charge," Ratchet grumbled in reply. "Keep me posted on the Energon mine."

_::Will do::_

Ratchet pressed something on the keyboard just as a familiar motorcycle drove into the room, a teenage figure with a helmet on his head and a backpack on his back sitting in the seat. As soon as the vehicle came to a stop, the figure stepped off and took off his helmet, revealing himself to be Jack.

"Morning, guys," Jack stated, looking up at Matt and Ratchet. Behind him, the motorcycle shifted form, revealing itself to be Arcee.

"Morning, Jack," Matt replied. "You guys just missed some big news."

"What kind of big news?" Arcee asked, walking over to the platform. Below, Jack started to make his way up the stairs.

"Maria found a dead Cybertronian and blew up a mine of Dark Energon," Matt explained, brushing over what he had overheard from Ratchet's conversation.

"An offlined Cybertronian?" Arcee blinked in surprise, then turned to look at Ratchet. "I didn't think that there were others here on the planet...."

"Well, it sounds like they're starting to come here," Ratchet replied. "It doesn't help matters that a man named Lex Luthor was holding her captive before Matthew's sister found her."

"Lex Luthor?" Jack repeated in surprise, dropping his backpack on the sofa. "Wasn't he one of the guys who had an alliance with those Reach aliens?"

"Yeah...." Matthew turned to look at Jack, giving a nod. An idea popped into his head, and he frowned. "Do you think that the Reach might have captured the Cybertronian and given them to Luthor to study?"

"Anything is possible with them," Ratchet muttered in disgust.

Jack pulled a brown paper bag out of his backpack and handed it over to Matthew, saying, "And they found a Dark Energon _mine?_ That shouldn't be possible."

"I know," Matthew replied. "Maybe there's something else going on." He opened the bag and pulled out what looked like an Egg McMuffin right as his stomach let out a loud growl.

"I grabbed something from KO Burger on my way over," Jack explained.

"Thanks," Matthew replied. He took a large bite of the sandwich. A moment later, it was quickly finished off.

"And my mom wants to meet you. I told her about where you were from, and she got kinda curious."

Matthew glanced over at Jack and gave a half-shrug. "I don't mind. Gives me something to do, at least."

"Perhaps you have something to do now," Ratchet spoke up. "What do you know about this 'Lex Luthor'?"

Matthew frowned slightly, considering what exactly he could say to those around him without throwing too much out of whack with the universe. He'd heard from Maria that some stories on that fan-based website she and Liz frequented so much had bad things happen if too much was said at one point in time.

"He's not anyone good, I can tell you that," Matthew finally replied, gaining a serious expression. "I don't know as much as Maria does, but I do know this: The guy's got a philanthropist cover so that he can go ahead and do what he thinks needs to get done in order to fulfill his own goals -- which mainly involve taking down the Justice League and Superman. He's been at the forefront of every disaster -- both as the cause and the relief -- and nobody's been able to put him in jail for long. And if anybody tries to make a deal with them, he'll end up double-crossing them."

"It seems that this human of whom you speak of has become an Earthen version of Starscream," Optimus noted as he stepped into the room. "If we are to meet him, we must step lightly."

"Indeed," Ratchet agreed with a nod.

Optimus turned to face the medic. "Has there been any news lately that involves this man?"

"Plenty. It seems that he somehow managed to find a Cybertronain and hold them in one of his storage facilities." Ratchet turned to face the computers and brought up a picture of a green facility in flames. "Matthew's sister was part of a team that discovered the Cybertronian...offlined...and blew up the _Dark Energon_ _mine_ that was directly below them."

Arcee had a grim expression on her face. "If Megatron found out about that --"

"We would be in grave danger indeed," Optimus spoke grimly. "We are very lucky that Maria made her move when she did."

"And that's not all," Matthew spoke up again. "Mt. Justice is sitting on top of an Energon mine, and Maria's hoping to get the stuff mined and sent in your direction."

A loud drum roll once again came out of Matthew's pocket, and he pulled his iPhone out and checked the caller ID.

"Is it her again?" Jack asked.

"Yup." Matthew slid his finger across the screen and held the smart phone up to his ear. "Hey, Maria. We were just talking about you."

_::Really? Let me guess -- Nightwing talked to you guys, didn't she?::_

"Well, to Ratchet and me." Matthew was relieved to know that his guess was correct. "Arcee only just got here with Jack."

_::Who? Sorry, but I don't exactly know the names of the guys you're hanging out with::_

Matthew looked a little embarrassed. "Right. Sorry -- I'll have to introduce you later."

_::Actually, that's what I called you to talk about. I want to set up a Facetime video link with the phone through the computers so that I can talk to all of you at once -- face to face. Do you think you can do it?::_

Matt frowned, then let out a sigh. "Hang on...." He looked over at Ratchet. "She wants me to connect my phone to the computers so that she can speak to everybody at once, not just me."

Ratchet frowned. "And how do you plan on attempting that?"

"I could probably try to do that."

Matthew turned his head to look down at the main floor of the base, surprised to see that Raf was climbing out of some sort of yellow and black muscle car -- Bumblebee, probably. How was it that the two had managed to arrive without him noticing?

"It'll take a little bit of work, though," the twelve-year-old added, pushing his glasses up his nose. Behind him, Bumblebee shifted into his robot mode.

:: _Well?::_ came Maria's voice through the phone.

Matt held the phone closer to his mouth. "I'll call to back when it's set up, all right, Maria?"

 _::'Kay. I'll be waiting!::_ There was a _click_ as Maria hung up.

Once Maria had hung up, Matt handed the phone over to Raf, who took off the Lucario-themed cover and looked the black iPhone over curiously.

"What model is this?" Raf asked, intrigued.

"The fourth one -- without Siri." Matt rubbed the back of his head. "Maria just called and said that she wanted it to get connected to the computers for some sort of video link using the Facetime app."

Raf nodded, then made his way over to the computers, Matt's phone in hand. "Let's see...."

While Raf started to work at the computers -- and took out his own laptop in order to see how a video link could possibly be done with the phone -- Bumblebee looked over in Matthew's and Jack's direction gave a wave and let out a beep.

Matthew waved back, giving a nod. "Morning, Bee."

The Autobot let out a buzzing noise and took a few steps forward, looking at the boy questioningly.

Matthew blinked in confusion, then shook his head. "Sorry, buddy, but I can't exactly understand you."

The doors on Bee's back drooped in disappointment, and he let out what sounded like a sad beep.

"Done!"

Everyone turned to see Raf grinning in triumph.

"Now you can try and call your sister," the boy added, motioning for Matthew to come over to the computers.

Matthew quickly moved to the catwalk that ran between the entertainment center for the kids and the computers. As soon as he had reached Raf, the twelve-year-old handed him his iPhone, now connected by a cord to the computer system.

"Are you sure this is wise?" Ratchet asked, frowning.

"What do you mean?" Matthew asked, looking up at the red and white Autobot. "This is my sister we're talking about. It's going to be fine."

And before the medic could respond to that statement, Matthew pressed the FaceTime app button on his iPhone, then went straight for Maria's number.

After a few seconds, Maria's face appeared on the screen, a grin on her face. Behind the brown-haired girl's head, Matthew caught sight of what looked like cave walls.

:: _Hey! I knew that would work. Gear thought it would take you guys even longer to get it connected, though::_

"It wasn't so hard," Raf spoke up from where he stood next to Matthew. "I mean, they're using human technology while they're trapped here."

Matthew grinned as his sister's eyes widened at the twelve-year-old's statement. He put his left arm around Raf's shoulders in a brotherly manner. "Maria, this is Raf, the resident computer geek. Raf, this is my sister Maria."

"Hi!" Raf waved at the girl.

Maria waved back, a white-gloved hand flashing across the screen. _::Hey. You could give Gear a run for his money in programming, you know that?::_

"I don't know about that." Raf shrugged. "It's probably been at it for longer than I have."

 _::He was hit with the gas that made him smart only a few years ago; I don't think that beats natural talent::_ Maria chuckled, then moved her gaze around the rest of the base. Her eyes widened considerably. _::Whoa. Is this everybody?::_

"We're presently missing one Autobot and his human charge."

Maria's eyes moved over to the red and white Autobot.

 _::And you are?::_ Maria asked, cocking her head slightly.

"I am Ratchet." Ratchet inclined his head and narrowed his optics. "Your friend told us that your human friends somehow managed to find a mine of Dark Energon."

Maria's eyes narrowed considerably. _::The only reason we found out about it is because Batman was picking up an energy signal of large proportions over in that general area._ I _didn't even know it was anything Dark until Static and Gear got a good look at it and declared that the stuff stank. We blew the whole base sky-high, so there shouldn't be any left_ there _::_

Maria's excited look soon returned, however. _::But have a look at this::_ Her head moved to one side, revealing more of the rock wall that was behind her. Sticking out of the walls were large crystals of Energon.

The optics and eyes of those present widened considerably.

Bumblebee let out a whirring noise that sounded amazed.

 _::A lot is right::_ Maria stated. _::And this isn't even_ all _of it::_

"Wait a second." Jack dashed up onto the platform and stood next to Jack. "You can understand him?"

Maria blinked, then frowned. _::Yeah. The bot's voice sounds a bit more metallic than Ratchet's did, but --::_

Bumblebee whirred indignantly as his doorwings twitched emphatically.

_::Bumblebee? Huh. Your name suits you::_

Upon hearing Maria's statement, the yellow and black mech looked pleased.

 _::So, is it odd that I can understand him...?::_ Maria frowned. _::What is_ your _name, while we're on the topic?::_

"I'm Jack," Jack replied. "And my Autobot guardian is Arcee." He motioned to the blue and purple femme standing behind him and next to Ratchet. The femme gave a nod.

 _::Autobot Arcee::_ Maria repeated thoughtfully. _::I see::_

"Among humans, Raphael is the only one who has been capable of understanding Bumblebee," Ratchet stated, motioning to the twelve-year-old. "How is it that you might understand him?"

 _::Might have something to do with the fact that I'm not exactly human anymore::_ Maria suddenly looked rather grim. Seeing the looks of shock and surprise, she continued quickly, _::Matthew can explain that later. I called because of the Energon mine Mt. Justice is sitting top of. We have to figure out a good day when --::_

Maria cut herself off, and her eyes widened to the point that they were almost popping out of their sockets. _::Whoa. When the stories I read described your leader as regal, they weren't kidding::_

Matthew and the others turned, catching sight of Optimus standing at the entrance to a corridor.

"Good morning, Optimus," Matthew stated.

Optimus gave a slight nod, then turned his attention to Maria. Taking a few steps forward, he asked, "And who are you?"

 _::My name is Maria, sir::_ Maria replied seriously. _::Matthew is my elder brother::_ She blinked for a moment, then smiled sheepishly. _::I...don't exactly know your name, sir::_

"I am Optimus Prime," Optimus replied. He frowned slightly. "What is this I hear about Energon?"

Maria raised a hand, revealing a white glove, a gold bracelet on her wrist, and bright red armor, then jabbed with a thumb at the crystals behind her. She then explained, _::There's an Energon mine right under Mt. Justice, a base of sorts in a mountain off the East Coast. I hoping to arrange for the stuff to be picked up when we've got it all mined out::_

"Maria, humans near Energon could cause bad reactions to their biology," Ratchet warned.

 _::Batman figured that out already, but he won't tell me_ how. _So he's got Superboy down here getting started. Nightwing told me the other two Kryptonians and maybe Martian Manhunter would be stopping by in order to get the rest::_

Maria frowned for a moment, then added, _::Batman's got a tracking device that's been keeping an eye out for alien signals. Some of them are similar to Energon, but there are others that he thinks are artifacts of some kind. I'd kind of like to go hunt them down, but I don't think the Dark Knight or Nightwing's team are going to let me out of their sight so easily::_

Optimus' optics narrowed. "I had suspected that there would be artifacts from Cybertron on other worlds, and perhaps on this one. Are you aware of how many there are?"

:: _It's too soon to tell. Batman, for all the technological advancements he's made with his computers, told me not too long ago that sometimes the signals are duds and that others seem to appear to be flickering across the map for no particular reason. My guess is there are_ at least _five artifacts in the area, maybe more::_ Maria looked worried about this. :: _If we can't find them first, then who knows who would manage to get their hands on them::_

"Your brother mentioned that you thought something bad was going to happen to us," Arcee spoke up suddenly. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Care to explain?"

Maria frowned, then let out a sigh and gained a look of annoyance. :: _Unfortunately, I haven't seen anything further yet. All I know is that, in an eventual future, something is going to happen that's going to possibly destroy the planet's civilization, and the Cons are very much involved::_ She ran a gloved hand through her brown hair, revealing that she had gray armor from her elbow to her shoulder, most likely. :: _If I learn anything more, I will let you know as soon as I can::_

Arcee glowered, but gave a nod. "Good."

"So, about these powers of mine..." Matthew spoke up suddenly. "Any idea on how I can get them under control? I've only used them once, and that was to give Starscream a dented wing."

 _::A dented wing? Wow, there must be a lot of power packed into you, then!::_ Maria chuckled a little, amused at the idea. :: _The only suggestion I have is try and remember how you felt when your powers activated, and get a training area set up so that you don't break anything by accident::_

"Your powers are dictated by _feelings?_ " Ratchet couldn't exactly believe what he was hearing.

:: _It's the only thing that particularly makes sense. My fire powers activated originally when I was angry::_ Maria help up a hand, and a fireball appeared there before dissipating. This got looks of shock, but the girl didn't seem at all surprised upon getting them.

:: _I've used them enough times that I can access it directly without the emotional trigger, but I can't do White Flare without getting_ really _mad still::_ Maria shook her head. :: _Enough of that. Have the other guys been giving you trouble lately?::_

"Nothing yet," Matt replied. "Although, seeing Starscream in the middle of a forest by himself was curious...."

"He defected from the Decepticons some time ago," Arcee explained, "although we're not sure as to why."

Maria blinked, and Matthew was sure that she was filing away the term "Decepticon" for use at a later date. _::I think someone with that name has done something like that before, but only when he doesn't want to get killed by that head honcho of his::_

"I think he ran from Megatron after the Energon mine collapsed and MECH tried to take us out," Jack suggested.

Maria looked curious. :: _MECH? Megatron?::_

Before she could say anything more, she flinched and closed one blue eye. A gloved hand came up and Maria started to rub the side of her head like she had a headache. A disgruntled look appeared on her face not long after.

 _::MECH wouldn't happen to be people that wear weird green jumpsuits and giant black goggles, would they?::_ she asked in a low growl.

"Yeah, that's them," Arcee stated, nodding. "How did you know?"

:: _I think they may be in cahoots with Luthor. Static, Gear, and I ran into one of them on our way through Luthor's building. There were a couple Vehicons, too, but Blue Beetle ended up taking down those with Nightwing::_

"Really?" Matthew blinked in surprise. "How?"

 _::I don't know, but it sounds like Blue's armor may know more about the Cybertronians than meets the eye -- which didn't actually happen in the TV show, since you guys weren't there....::_ Maria trailed off into a frown, then looked over her shoulder. _::Nightwing's coming. I'd better disconnect before he sees who I'm talking to and I'm forced to tell him about you guys. I'm going to try and keep your identities -- and base -- secret for as long as I can, but the Justice League is probably going to figure out about you guys eventually::_ Looking back at the group in the Autobot base, she added, _::I'll call back when we've got some of this stuff mined out for you guys::_

"We appreciate what you are doing, Maria," Optimus said calmly.

:: _It's no problem on my part::_ Maria grinned at the group, then severed the connection.


	9. Chapter 9

"Who were you just talking to?"

Maria was quick to stow away the video-communications device as Nightwing approached.

"It sounded like there was more than one voice on the other side of the line," the Gotham vigilante continued.

"Just letting the Cybertronians know about the Energon." Maria looked at the crystals, which were probably twice as tall as her -- and even bigger, in some cases. "And checking in on my brother." She looked over at Nightwing. "Nothing wrong in that, is there?"

Nightwing frowned. "Batman and I couldn't help but notice that your signal seems to have its own defense codes."

"That's a way to keep it from being intercepted by people that don't really need to hear the conversation. I think there's a bad 'bot who can do that, and I'm not letting them listen in on an easy-to-read frequency."

Nightwing gave her an interested look. "You're certainly not taking any chances."

"I haven't been to very many worlds yet, but looking into them has given me enough knowledge to become at least a little bit paranoid." Maria chuckled at her own actions, then gave Nightwing an attentive look. "So, any luck in the other caverns so far?"

"Well, Superboy has been able to break a couple of the crystals into smaller pieces for easy transport," Nightwing admitted, "but some of them have been around -- and growing -- for long enough that we can't seem to get them to even crack."

"Hmmm...." Maria frowned slightly. "Has anyone tried using chainsaws of any sort yet?"

"If Connor can't break them, I doubt that diamond-encrusted blades would work."

"Now that _is_ a dilemma." Maria started to walk out of the corridor, Nightwing keeping in stride. "No one with explosive tendencies has managed to try anything yet, I hope?"

Nightwing shook his head. "Thanks to the local media, everyone knows what that stuff can do. Batman has been trying to get Superman down here to see if his strength can do anything. I doubt that laser vision would be such a good idea."

"Since that usually involves the target getting heated up considerably." Maria nodded, then her eyes widened momentarily. "Do you think freezing it and then hitting it might work? It could become more fragile if it's like that...."

"Aqualad already tried that back when he was with Manta. The Energon crystals they found underwater were impervious to everything but a couple drills they found nearby."

"Drills? How big?"

Nightwing gave her a curious look. "Human sized. Why?"

"I'd think that Cybertronians would use some pretty big drills in order to get to some of the Energon deposits," Maria admitted. "I was wondering if it were possible that some managed to make it underwater."

"You said they were robots, right? Wouldn't going underwater cause them to rust?"

Maria shrugged. "Maybe. Then again, back where I got this form, robots could easily go under water without rusting."

"Yeah, well, that's not this world."

The two entered a large cavern just as a battle cry of sorts was heard and a giant crystal fell to the ground with a _bang_ and some minor tremors.

"Nice one!" Maria looked over the crystal, then over to where Connor -- or Superboy -- stood panting. "Do you think it's possible that this is making you stronger?"

Connor looked over to where the crystal had been, the base of which remained sticking out of the ground. "Maybe. It would be useful if I had help taking down that." He pointed up to a large crystal further up along the cave wall, even longer and thicker than the one that had just been felled. "Kaldur is trying to see about getting a couple from the Big League down here to help out."

Maria nodded. "Yeah. Nightwing already said something about getting Superman down here, probably."

"You called?"

Maria and Nightwing turned to see the mentioned Kryptonian standing at the cave entrance. Beside him was a girl with blond hair and equally sharp blue eyes in a more skimpy look-alike uniform.

"Maria, what is all this?" Superman asked, looking around.

"Energon crystals," Maria explained, motioning to the bright blue gems. "A race of robots called the Cybertronians blasted them down here during a war on their home planet -- Cybertron. Although the planet is now technically dead, its people survive in all four corners of the universe -- including here."

"Cybertronians?" Supergirl caught Maria's attention. "You mean the people who came off that metal hunk of a planet?"

"You've heard of it?" Nightwing was surprised by this.

"My father and I used to sit outside on clear nights and look up at the stars," Superman's cousin explained. "He pointed out a few planets one night and said that there was a dead planet out there that worked like a giant machine." The teen superhero became embarrassed. "I thought he was telling me a fairy tale."

"It's all true," Maria confirmed. "Unfortunately, their war still continues -- and Energon plays a big part in it."

"Why is it so important?" Superman walked over to the crystal and looked it over. "Bruce mentioned something about it being a power source."

"For both the Cybertronians themselves _and_ their tech in some cases. It's gotten extensive enough that Energon becomes their blood when it enters their systems. I still have no idea how it gets into -- or out of -- their systems, though...." Maria chuckled nervously. "And I'm not planning on asking, either."

"Hmm..." Superman lifted up a crystal with one hand, using his X-ray vision in order to give it a better look. "This doesn't look like a normal crystal."

"They're a lot more volatile than normal crystals, as well. I don't know what your laser vision will do, but set something to explode in here and we'll all go up in smoke. Super strength isn't a problem, though." Maria motioned to Connor. "Connor's been breaking the crystals loose that way, but there are a few that he hasn't been able to back loose yet." She pointed up at the crystal above their heads.

Supergirl looked up and let out a whistle. "Wow. If these Energon crystals can get that big, how big are the people that use them?"

"Maria said they were robots," Connor said. He grabbed the crystal Superman had been holding and dragged it over to a pile of crystals of identical sizes. "And how robots can be here without being noticed, I don't know."

"And I don't really think it's my place to tell. Spewing out secrets that big when they don't want the planet to know about them isn't exactly my shtick." Maria frowned. "Besides, I've already said that they can transform into Earth vehicles in order to hide in plain sight."

"They have ways to hide themselves?" Superman asked in surprise.

Maria nodded. "They have a base and good enough disguises that you wouldn't know who they were even if they were right in front of your nose." Her eyes narrowed. "Unfortunately, that ends up going for both the good guys and the bad guys."

Supergirl gave her a look so surprise while Superman flew up to the crystal above their heads to have a closer look. "Wait -- hold up. Are you saying that they're _still_ fighting their war?"

"I've said it a couple times already. Like I told Batman and a few of the others, there are two main factions of Cybertronians -- Autobots and Decepticons, apparently. I don't know how they're doing in other sections of the universe, but the war's ongoing around here. To put it simply, the Autobots want to protect all living beings, while the Decepticons are willing to kill in order to take over the whole universe."

"So, Autobots are good, and the Decepticons are bad," Supergirl deduced. "All right, then." She jabbed a thumb up at the crystal. "So how are we going to get these things to the Autobots, then?"

"I have connections," Maria replied with a mysterious grin.

Before she could elaborate, a loud CRACK! resounded through the cavern as the large crystal was broken loose by Superman. The Kryptonian easily moved under it in order to prevent it from falling on top of the group below.

"Awesome job, Supes! We've probably got enough to fill up an entire trailer!" Maria's grin widened.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Nightwing gave Maria a look while Superman dropped the crystal on the already large pile.

"Just how they might be able to take the Energon," Maria replied with a shrug.

In her head, a voice grumbled, _*Maria, you really have to learn to keep your mouth shut!*_

_I know, Inferno. You don't need to lecture me._

_*I wasn't*_

Nightwing's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing to dig deeper into what Maria knew. "Fine. You know you are going to eventually slip up and spill."

Maria nodded dejectedly. "I'm completely aware of that. For now, though, I'm going to see about keeping my mouth shut about the Cybertronians."

"So you know about them the same way you knew about the JLA?" Superman landed in front of Maria and Nightwing, curious.

Maria gained a slightly nervous expression. "Not exactly."

Nightwing frowned. "What do you mean, 'not exactly'?"

"During the tournament, I was poking around on...a certain website...when I found stories about these guys under 'Transformers/Beast Wars' -- whatever that means. But the stories I found weren't exactly complete -- there were a lot of words that were blacked out, so I'm still trying to muddle through a lot of the info while trying to put the pieces together from what's going on."

"Really?" Superman smirked. "It must irk you to not know what's going on, then."

"You have _no_ _idea_."

"Wait -- what do you mean, Kal?" Supergirl asked, using her cousin's Kryptonian name.

"Maria and I ended up meeting in some sort of...hero's tournament," Superman stated. "She ended up revealing that she knew everything about us because her world has access to different TV shows."

"Oh -- really?" Supergirl looked at Maria in surprise as the Reploid nodded.

"Cartoons, video games, movies, and books all dictate some sort of event in another world," Maria stated. "My world has access to all of them, so I have a lot of knowledge that sort of thing...Kara Zor-El."

Supergirl's eyes widened. "No way -- I haven't told--"

"I saw a realm that had a problem with Darkseid brainwashing their version of Supergirl. She said her name was Kara Zor-El."

Superman's eyes narrowed. "That happened here, too. Batman ended up --"

"Threatening to blow up Apokolips with all of Darkseid's HellSpores. I know. Darkseid admired Batman for that." Maria let out a breath. "I kind of have to be careful with this sort of thing -- some events that took place in one world might not have happened in another. The knowledge of the stories for the Cybertronians is moot unless something really big happens."

"How big are we talking?" Batman entered the cavern.

"Depends." Maria turned to look at the Dark Knight. "Something up?"

"It's Luthor again." Batman nodded to Nightwing. "I looked over the parts of those robots you scrapped. They're clearly made of Luthor's technology."

Maria frowned. "Really? Are you sure? Because I thought they were usually Decepticon cannon fodder."

I'm certain. Either you're mistaken, or there's more to your little Cybertronian war than you realized." Batman turned. "The rest of the Team is intent on meeting you. I'd suggest that you go up there."

Maria shrugged. "Well, I'm not really doing anything down here. Why not?" She walked off after Batman, leaving Nightwing and the Kryptonians behind. It didn't take them long to reach the main area of Mt. Justice, in which an assortment teens and adults in costumes were walking around, conversing with one another. They stopped as soon as Batman and Maria entered.

"Hi," Maria greeted. "I'm Flare-Up -- otherwise known as Maria White."

A red blur was in front of her in a moment.

"Bot Girl!" Flash exclaimed. "It's been a while."

"You know I don't like it when you call me that," Maria grumbled. She watched peripherally as Batman snuck off, but didn't bother to voice any farewells. "No one outside of this mountain -- other than my brother and our friends -- knows of my past, and I'd prefer to keep it that way for as long as possible so that I don't end up scaring anyone half to death with my tech."

"So, it's true then?" A boy in a yellow, red, and green outfit approached Maria, a black eyemask identical to Nightwing's on his face. "Dick told me you got turned into a robot. Is that right?"

The Reploid let out a sigh of annoyance. "It's true. I've been living like this for...a month and a half of my Earth's years, now?" She shook her head. "I haven't really bothered to keep track, what with the different time flows of different worlds."

"Time flows differently on your world?" A boy with red hair, wearing a yellow outfit with red lightning-bolt shapes on the jumpsuit zipped over to Maria. "Name's Imp -- I mean, Kid Flash. That's Robin."

Maria's eyes sparked slightly. "The kid from the future, right?"

Kid Flash's eyes widened. "How did you--"

"Her cartoons are pretty much what we do on a regular basis," Flash explained.

"There are video games and books, as well," Maria admitted. "So, yeah, I'm aware of the whole Reach sitch."

"That's pretty crash." Kid Flash was amazed at this. "So, like, you know who everybody else is, then?" He motioned to the rest of the room, while the other Leaguers were watching.

"Most, if not, everybody." Maria rubbed the back of her head. "Honestly, though, knowledge doesn't do anything against meeting people in person." _Which makes me jealous of my brother...._

"Did you say that you had a brother?" A girl with green skin and bright red hair approached Maria cautiously.

Maria looked at the woman for a moment and blinked a couple times before nodding. "Yeah. His name's Matthew, and he's my older brother. Back at home, I ended up getting a vision, and he decided that he wanted to come along. When we got here, the two of us were separated -- I've contacted him a couple times since, though."

"She told us last night that Matt was with these 'bots from another planet," a green-skinned boy with equally green hair explained. "What was it again? Cybertronians?"

"Yup." Maria nodded.

The green-skinned girl looked at Maria with wide eyes. "Cybertronians? Here?!"

"Yeah. They've been keeping as low as profile as possible, though, M'gann, and the ones who found my brother aren't planning on destroying this planet -- they consider it their new home, technically." Maria frowned slightly. "Why do you have to look so startled?"

"They were used in stories to make kids behave, back on Mars," M'gann admitted, not quite so surprised by Maria knowing her name. "They would tell us that, sometimes, if we didn't go to bed on time, the Cons would come and eat us!"

"Decepticons?"

"No. Insecticons." M'gann shuddered.

"Insecticons?" Gar frowned. "What're those?"

Maria flinched as Beast Boy asked his question, her mind becoming filled with visions: _A destroyed lab -- flashing wings -- a purple symbol with sharp edges--_

"They're robotic insects...or something like that." Maria frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "Although, I don't think that any of them would have been found on Mars.... M'gann, how much do you know about the Cybertronians?"

"Not much," the Martian girl admitted. "Only that they come from a planet made of metal and can make themselves look like the vehicles on whatever planet they come to." She shuddered. "When I first heard that story, I went around for months expecting one of those things to turn up out of nowhere and eat me...."

"Robots that can turn into cars?" Robin frowned. "Is that even possible?"

"For the Autobots and Decepticons, sure," Maria replied. "I'm not so sure about the Insecticons, though." She frowned thoughtfully as she tried to access the vision again, but found it blocked.

"Autobot...." A woman with black hair and wearing white gloves frowned. "That sounds a lot like the German word for 'car.' Is that what they transform into?"

Maria closed an eye and caught sight what looked like the wings of a jet. "Most of them."

"What do you mean, 'most of them'?" Robin gave Maria an annoyed look.

"Oh! I know! There are a couple of them that are--"

Maria stopped Kid Flash from saying anything further by putting a hand over his mouth.

"No spoilers," Maria taunted. "The Cybertronians can just as easily explain it themselves. We just have to meet them first."

Kid Flash looked a little deflated, and he pushed Maria's hand away. "Fine." He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the Reploid.

"You know about them?" Flash gave Kid Flash a look.

Kid Flash looked over at Maria before nodding. "Yeah. The Reach found them out and forced a lot of them off-planet, then got us to mine the Energon deposits they left behind. Everything was pretty much gone by the time I came back here."

"And now that the future's been changed...." Maria glanced up at some corner of the cave ceiling, lost in thought. She looked back at Kid Flash, who was looking a little nervous. "Relax. I'm not going to blast you to kingdom come just for almost-spilling."

Robin looked at her curiously. "Nightwing mentioned you had some powers. Mind giving a demonstration?"

Maria looked over at M'gann, then shook her head. "My powers are mostly fire-based. If I set up a 'demonstration,' I doubt that some people present will appreciate it."

Martian Manhunter came up behind M'gann. "Thank you, Maria. However you can demonstrate your secondary ability."

Maria smirked. "I certainly could." She held up her right hand, morphing it into her Buster, causing those present to jump in surprise. "This is called a Buster. Standard weapon for a bot of my make and model. It can fire shots of energy, and I can increase the strength to create something called a charged shot. I can change the different types of shots to use, too. Mostly, it's set for a fire-based, destructive shot, but I can go for an electric-based stun shot, or an ice-based freeze shot." The Buster morphed back into her hand. "I also have a couple jet boosters, so I can take to the air if I have to, but that takes a lot of energy."

"You sound like you're prepared for everything," Robin noted.

Maria smirked. "I think it depends more on what's going on in the world than on what I've got in my arsenal. I may know a few things about this world, but I have to be careful -- I could accidentally mess up and pull a Spoiler like Kid Flash almost did there."

"Hey!" Mentioned speedster looked annoyed, causing Maria to burst out into laughter. "It's hard keeping everything in!"

"You're not the only one who has that problem, KF. I've almost spilled more times than I'd care to count in other realities." Maria smirked. "In some cases, I actually have -- both on purpose and by accident. It was usually on purpose, though, when everything was winding down after a big event."

A beeping suddenly caught her attention, and green text rolled across her vision.

"Oh, boy. I've been awake for so long, I'm getting low on charge." She smirked and shook her head. "I'd better go and get some rest or else I'll fall asleep standing." She turned and walked off for the sleeping quarters, Robin and KF following behind.

"So, what do you run on?" Robin seemed to be even more curious than Gear.

"A mix of electricity and mystic energy," Maria replied, smirking. "I'm not quite sure how they can manage to work together, but Dr. Light made it work, and for that I'm grateful."

"Technology and magic aren't supposed to work together very well...." Robin frowned at the strange conundrum.

"I know -- that's why I'm glad I went to Dr. Light's universe and got turned into a robot there." Maria stopped in front of a door that had a red and white sphere with a blue saw-blade shape on top. "Well, here's my room. If you two'll excuse me, I'm going to get some rest before my circuits burn out." The Reploid opened the door and slipped inside. The two members of the Team could hear the audible click of a lock not long after.

The room Maria had chosen was furnished simply: a bed, a desk and a chair. Someone had even taken the liberty of dropping a tool box in there, just in case the Reploid had need of some repairs.

"I wonder how much longer before I meet up with Matt and the Autobots," Maria murmured. She then dove under the covers of the bed and slipped into recharge mode.


	10. Chapter 10

Matt stepped out of Bumblebee's vehicle mode as Jack drove into the garage on Arcee. As the yellow and black car sped off, Matt looked the house over with mild interest.

"Nice place," the teen noted as he walked over to Jack. "And you said that it was just you and your mom who live here?"

Jack nodded. "Come on -- Mom's probably going to ask a lot of questions about you." He walked over to the front door while Arcee drove back to base.

"Have you told her _everything_ about me?"

"Just that the Autobots found you while you were doing a cross-country trip. That whole 'I come from an alternate reality' thing wouldn't sit well coming from me."

"I don't think it would sit well coming from me, either." Matt walked into the house behind Jack. "Maria would probably have to be the one to explain about that."

"Explain about what?" A woman with black hair stepped out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel.

"It's a long story that my little sister would be better at telling," Matt replied. "You're Nurse Darby, right? Jack's mom?"

Mrs. Darby smiled. "You don't have to call me 'Nurse' when I'm at home." She held out her hand for Matt to shake. "You're Matthew, right?"

"Call me Matt." Matt accepted the handshake, his nose twitching a little. "Is that dinner I smell?"

"I knew that I would be having two boys in the house, and seeing as I was coming home from work, I picked up a few pizzas." Mrs. Darby motioned towards the kitchen, where a couple pizza boxes sat on the table. "I'm afraid that I don't know what would be your favorite, so I grabbed a cheese and Jack's favorite."

Jack grinned and gave his mom a thumbs-up. "Thanks Mom!" He grabbed one of the pizza boxes and ripped it open, pulling out a large slice covered in pepperoni and bacon, causing Matt's mouth to water.

"Now I could go for some of that!" Matt reached over and snatched a slice, biting into it. He chewed for a long time before he swallowed. "That's good pizza. I haven't run into any of this kind of stuff before."

"Well, get used to it, because I don't order pizza too often." Mrs. Darby took a slice of the cheese pizza and placed it on a plate so that she wouldn't drop crumbs on the floor. "So, Jack tells me you've been traveling cross country."

"That's right." Matt was digging his teeth deep into the pizza, but he could tell that Jack's mom was probably going into interrogation mode.

"Why is it that you don't seem to be carrying any camping gear with you?" That caught Matt by surprise, and he looked at Jack, who had the same look.

Matt swallowed the remains of the slice he had in his mouth. "I'd been looking for firewood when it had been destroyed by that Decepticon, Starscream." He inwardly hoped that Mrs. Darby would buy it, so that his wouldn't have to spill to more than one person about his or Maria's origins.

Mrs. Darby's eyes narrowed. "Jack, living room. Now." She walked off, grabbing Jack by the shoulder and forcing him to walk ahead of her.

Matt let out a sigh. _So she can sense liars. Looks like I might have to spill after all...._

A few minutes later, Matt had left three pieces of the meat-covered pizza alone and was on his first of the cheese when Mrs. Darby and Jack returned. Mrs. Darby looked curious, while Jack appeared to be a little embarrassed.

"Jack said you got here through a portal of some kind." Mrs. Darby looked Matt over.

Matt nodded; there wasn't much use in keeping it secret, now. "My sister makes them for whenever she wants to go to another world. I came along this time around, and the two of us ended up separated for some reason. She's all right, though."

Mrs. Darby frowned. "How do you know?"

"Our phone connection seems to still work in an alternate dimension." Matt reached into his pocket, then stopped. "Oh, right -- I left it plugged into Ratchet's computers. Probably should have grabbed it before we left...." He shook his head. "Maria probably won't be making any calls until tomorrow."

"Maria? Is that your sister's name?"

Matt nodded. "Last she called, she was somewhere near Mt. Justice." _There's no reason that she should have to know about what she can really do yet._

"That's on the east coast," Mrs. Darby noted. "When you said that the two of you were separated, you weren't kidding. You don't seem to be too worried about her, though."

"Maria can take care of herself," Matt responded. "She said she was hoping to meet up with me soon, though."

Mrs. Darby gave Matt a curious look. "I would like to meet this sister of yours when she gets here. Jack mentioned that the two of you were from a world where the Autobots don't exist."

Matt nodded. "Maria knows more about them than I do, though. I don't know _how_ she does other than some stories she found."

"So, she knows that you're among friends."

"Pretty much." Matt moved the crust of a pizza slice around in his fingers. "She also knows who the villains are, but I can figure that out as well as she can -- I've seen enough _now_ to know a Decepticon when I run into one. Although, I didn't expect the bots to look so...human-like."

"What have they looked like, then?" Jack was curious by this.

"More...bulky, I guess, in the TV shows I've seen. See, we don't have the Cybertronians hanging around -- we've got another show called the Go-Bots that my brother seems to be absolutely enamored with. There's some similarities, but not really enough for me to say the Autobots and the Go-Bots are the same thing."

"Even without your sister here, you seem to know a lot," Mrs. Darby noted.

"It comes from having her _as_ a sister. She's constantly talking about everything that she's learned about different characters in different world." Matt shook his head. "I didn't really believe what she could do until she showed off her abilities in our backyard." He smirked at the memory.

"Abilities?" Mrs. Darby frowned. "What kind of abilities?"

"She can throw fire around. When she showed us what we could do, she ordered my other little sister, Liz, to keep a hose handy in case she accidentally set something on fire that she shouldn't have. That didn't happen though -- Maria was really careful in using her abilities." Matt swallowed what remained of the pizza slice he had been holding. "So, have anything in mind for what we can do before we head to bed? I don't exactly plan on talking about me for the rest of the evening."

"Well, we do have a few movies," Mrs. Darby admitted. "How do you feel about watching one of them?"

Matt nodded. "That's fine. What do you have?"


	11. Chapter 11

Maria was up ridiculously early that morning. Something was bothering her -- something about this world -- and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. The Crystal, for all the help it had given her, would only remind her of what she had seen in that first vision, nothing changing or being added. It made her wonder if there was something that she might have missed that first time....

Maria shook her head. "No; the only thing I saw were the Autobots getting turned into Decepticons. I'm here to find out why, and to put a stop to it." _And yet...they probably wouldn't go to the other side so easily....._

A beeping caught the Reploid's attention, and she raised her left hand to her left ear. "This is Maria. What's the sitch?"

_::We're here for the Energon, kid. Don't know why the Bots would trust you though....::_

"Agent Fowler," Maria stated, mimicking Optimus' tone from when she had first seen him, "I am aware of things that the JLA is not. My brother is also in their base and has told them everything he knows. Why wouldn't they trust me?"

:: _Oh, I don't know -- maybe because you know who I am before I even introduce myself?::_

"I come from another realm where looking into other worlds is common. I can explain it in more detail if you want."

:: _Just get us the Energon so that we can get back to Nevada, all right?::_

"Just give me a minute." Maria severed the connection, then went over to the large, barge-like hover transport that had been brought down from the Watchtower. Sitting on it was a large pile of Energon.

"Now to put this stuff to use."

Maria jumped up on the platform and directed it out to the exit that led from the mountain to the docks, where it had been agreed that they would meet in order for the Energon to change hands. When Maria came out, she was met with a surprising sight: a red and blue semi attached to a trailer. Standing beside it was Agent Fowler, who looked like he was an especially foul mood.

"There should be enough of this to stuff that trailer near to the brim," Maria stated, bringing the platform to a stop not to far from the open end of the trailer. A slight nudge, and the Energon crystals slid easily into the trailer when the platform tipped ever so slightly. "So, why'd you bring the trailer in the first place? I expected you guys to Ground Bridge everything."

"Optimus insisted on doing that on the outskirts of the city." Fowler crossed his hands over his chest, seeming to rest them a little on his stomach. "Even then, it didn't help that Aura Boy fired an Aura Sphere at the Ground Bridge controls when he was doing target practice."

Maria's eyebrows arched in surprise. "Target practice? Near that? What were they thinking?"

"They said to blame Miko."

"Um...ok?" Maria backed up the platform, allowing the doors to close on the glowing pile of crystals. "I don't recognize the name, but something tells me that she's a bit of a troublemaker. I'd recommend that Matt go somewhere else to do his shooting." She turned the platform and started to fly it back into Mt. Justice.

:: _Maria::_ The Reploid stopped the platform short upon hearing the familiar voice. :: _MECH will not pass up the chance to steal the Energon you have given us::_

_::You mean to say that they've been following you and they're going to try and attack?::_

_::Unfortunately::_

_::Why didn't you bring along one of the other Autobots, then?::_ Maria got the platform moving forward again, stopping it where Batman had told her to the night before.

:: _Ratchet said the Ground Bridge only had enough power for one. I request that you and at least one other human tail us and make sure MECH doesn't try anything::_

Maria let out a sigh and jumped off the platform. :: _I'll see who I can find. Are you expecting us to follow you all the way to the base?::_

_::Affirmative::_

_::All right::_ Maria caught sight of a figure in the shadows, recognizing the bio signature that the figure was letting off. :: _I think I've found someone who might be willing to go ahead with this. It'll take me a little to get out there::_

Maria walked over to the shadow, which was behind one of the supercomputers in the area. "Nightwing, I know you're back there. I need to talk to you."

The mentioned teen slipped out from behind the supercomputer. "I'm not surprised you found me." He crossed his arms over his chest. "What is it that you wanted me for?"

"The Cybertronian who picked up the Energon wants a human escort. Their teleportation system is down, and he wants us to keep an eye out for anyone who might get any ideas about taking the Energon."

Nightwing's eyes narrowed. "And you want me to come along."

"Yes, I do. My guess is that he wants to see how a human can handle a situation like this -- MECH agents are most likely going to try and attack when we're out on the road."

"MECH?"

"A group that wants better tech to take over the world, and they're not afraid to try every trick in the book to dissect a Cybertronian -- they don't care about whether their good or bad." Maria started to walk over to the exit. "Are you coming or not?"

Something was thrown at the back of Maria's head, and the Reploid caught it. Looking the orange disk over, she looked at Nightwing and gave him a curious look.

"Gear came up with it a few days ago," Nightqing explained. "Now seems to be a good time to test it as any." He walked over to the exit. "You coming?"

Maria grinned. "Like I'm going to pass this up!" She dashed out after him.

Outside, the semi and its trailer were already moving out of the docks. Maria was quick to toss out the device Gear had made, becoming surprised when it suddenly morphed into a hover board.

"Now that is cool," Maria stated, grinning. She jumped on, Nightwing following suit. "Let's go!"


	12. Chapter 12

"This place is definitely bigger than I had expected," Matt stated, looking around as he stepped out of the elevator.

"You didn't expect us to have to live on one floor, did you?" Ratchet gave the human a look as he followed Matt out of the elevator. "These floors were here when we arrived, and we have made use of them."

Below the main floor of the ex-missile silo, there were at least two more floors -- one for sleeping quarters, and one for combat practice -- or training, in Matt's case.

"We need to set something up so that you can practice those abilities without causing any damage," the red and white Autobot noted.

Matt grinned sheepishly at this. "Miko startled me, that's all."

"You need to gain control of your emotions, Matthew."

Matt let out a sigh. He had long since stopped trying to get the Autobots to call him by his nickname -- even though Jack had admitted that his full name was Jackson, they still called him Jack -- but it still bothered the other-world human slightly. "I'm still new to this, Ratchet. Give me a little time, and I'll have this figured out."

Ratchet stopped in front of a human-sized version of the targets that had been set up not too far away. "Well, you can figure it out here." He motioned to the targets. "Since Optimus won't be back with the Energon for a while, he won't be able to oversee your training, which means that I'll have to watch you down here, which keeps me from repairing the Ground Bridge." He was really annoyed by this development.

"If there's anyone to blame, it's Miko." Matt moved to stand in front of the targets, mentally trying to coax the energy out of his system. "The way she was moving, I thought she was going to end up attacking one of the other two." Upon saying this, the energy burst out of his chest, and two Aura Spheres shot from his hands and into the floor, leaving two dents there. Ratchet took note of this.

"It seems your sense of protecting others is your trigger," the medic noted. "Try to concentrate on that while aiming at the targets, if you would."

Matt looked at the targets. "I don't know if that will help. I mean, they look harmless. Are harmless."

"Pretend Starscream is one of them." Ratchet flipped a switch, causing one of the targets to suddenly morph into the mentioned Decepticon.

Matt's eyes widened, and he quickly got into a defensive stance, a glare appearing on his face. Without thinking, the energy flared up again, and he summoned an Aura Sphere and fired it, hitting the target in the chest -- where the Spark would be, if Matt remembered correctly what Maria had told him. To his surprise, the target promptly fell and became a regular ring target once again. This sort of thing went on for about an hour or so, with Matt firing at whatever Starscreams appeared. Eventually, he managed to start hitting the regular targets, as well.

"I think it best that we stop for now," Ratchet said as Matt fired on Starscream for what seemed to be the hundredth time. "Your energy levels are getting low."

"I'm feeling tired, all right." Matt put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. "Who knew that using Aura Sphere that many times would take so much out of a person?"

"It seems to me that your body isn't used to that amount of energy output yet," the medic noted. "Building up your endurance will come in time." He motioned for Matt to follow him back to the elevator, and the human complied.

"I really hope that isn't the only thing that I can do," Matt muttered.

"Are you saying that you want more ways to lose your energy?" Ratchet frowned.

"I'm saying that the Aura Sphere is best for long distance. I'm going to need to work on fighting in close quarters -- and finding a Final Smash attack like Maria's."

"Final Smash?"

"A person's strongest attack. Maria's got White Flare, which pretty much melts the competition if she's in that kind of mood."

Ratchet's optics widened. "She carries that much power?"

"Pretty much. According to what she's told me, though, it really burns her out if she uses it at full power." The elevator stopped and opened, allowing the two to exit onto the ground floor. "Maria makes it a point to never use it unless it's truly necessary."

"A wise move on her part." Ratchet walked over to the Ground Bridge's computers. "I believe Jack brought over something called a 'Playstation,' correct?"

Matt nodded. "I asked him to. There were a few tricks that I wanted to teach him in one of the games."

Ratchet nodded. "Go, then. And leave me to my work!"

Matt made his way quickly up to the platform with the couch, where Raf, Miko, and Jack were sitting, trying to play SEGA Allstars Racing. So far, it looked like Raf -- who was using a two-tailed fox in an airplane -- was winning, most likely because of all the practice he had obtained when going against Bumblebee.

"Hey, guys," Matt greeted, coming up from behind as Raf won yet another race.

Miko stuck her tongue out at the twelve-year-old while Raf grinned at Matt.

"Hey, Matt! Want to try your luck?" Raf handed the other-worlder a blue PS3 wireless controller.

"Sure." Matt sat down on the ground next to Jack -- who had been using a black hedgehog on the motorcycle. "Where are you guys trying next?"

"That Seaside Hill place," Jack replied. "It looks like one of the places that Shadow's from."

"Yeah -- Mobius." Matt scrolled through the remaining players available, eventually choosing a red creature with spikes on its knuckles. "Course, I don't know if Shadow's been to Seaside Hill personally, but there were a couple levels of this in the Sonic Heroes game."

"What was that thing you picked? A porcupine?" Miko frowned slightly.

"Knuckles is an echidna," Matt replied matter-of-factly. "He's about as famous as Sonic."

"Sorry. Mom and Dad made it a point to keep me clear of video games a lot of the time."

"Which explains why you suck at this."

"Hey!" Miko glared at Jack while Matt smirked.

"Save your anger for the track," Matt suggested. "You can get him with the power-ups there."

"Power-ups? You mean those boxes?"

The other-worlder nodded as the loading screen popped up. "They're special weapons you can use to boost your speed or mess with a for when you're on the track." He turned his gaze fully to the screen as the countdown started for the race. "Let's see how you guys can do against me."


	13. Chapter 13

"Flare-Up, we've been following this truck for almost three days." Nightwing sounded beyond annoyed. "Are you sure that thing's what you claim it is?"

Maria nodded, not bothering to glance back as she directed the hover board through a maze of trees. Further below, on a road that cut its way over the large hill, was a familiar red and blue semi with a trailer attached. "I know it when I see it, Nightwing. My knowledge of other worlds hasn't failed me yet -- there's a Cybertronain down there."

"In the trailer?"

"Like I'm going to tell you that." Maria smirked, but she mentally figured that Nightwing already thought that the truck was the Cybertronian she spoke of. "They told me MECH might be tracking them, and asked if we could keep an eye on things so that they wouldn't have to blow their cover. What's the problem in that?"

"You're asking me to put a lot of blind faith in you. That's not how members of the Team work together."

"I keep these secrets for a reason, Nightwing. They haven't given me permission to tell anyone about who they are, anyway."

"So you say."

"I've been in contact with them -- you'd think that I'd have mentioned something along those lines to them." _Optimus didn't want anyone in the JLA to know about the full extent of the war and its outreach just yet -- even when I mentioned that the JLA have friends in the Green Lanterns, which seemed to surprise him last night._

Nightwing said nothing for a while after that, leaving Maria to concentrate on her maneuvers while also keeping an eye on the semi below.

When they hills had long been left behind, and Maria was deploying her Light Refractor technique in order to keep them hidden, Nightwing finally stated, "We've got company."

Maria looked up, catching sight of two green helicopters without any identifiable markings from any sort of organization. The Reploid's eyes narrowed. "That's them. MECH."

Nightwing gave her a look. "You're certain."

"It's gotta be -- no one else would even think of coming near a truck and a trailer, and that green color's exactly like what the goons in Luthor's lab were wearing." Maria brought the hover board over to the trailer's side, then managed to get it to rise up to the level of the trailer's roof. "I'll have to compliment Gear on his handiwork later. You ready for this?"

Nightwing didn't answer. He was already on the roof of the trailer.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" A man with blond hair that was cut in an army-like style looked out of one of the helicopters and down at Nightwing. "A night owl who seems to have strayed from his home."

Nightwing's eyes narrowed. "That's almost as bad as when I was Robin," he grumbled.

"You seem to have gotten on the wrong truck, boy."

Ropes were dropped from the helicopter the man wasn't in, and people dressed in green and black with large, bulbous black goggles slid down, high-tech guns in hand. A moment later, the guns were blasted out of their hands by a few small fireballs as Maria dropped the Light Refractor when she was next to the trailer, still on the hover board.

"And you're messing with the wrong people," Maria stated. "Back off."

The man's eyes narrowed. "You're the new girl they picked up, aren't you? What was it again?" A sneer appeared on his face. "Ah, yes. Flare-Up. It seems to suit you."

Maria's eyes narrowed, and she stepped off the hover board, not bothering to watch as it suddenly compacted and connected to her back as an orange box with two circles indented in it. "And you're the MECH agents who seem to have at least a couple of your own wandering around Luthor's buildings. You wouldn't happen to be in cahoots, would you?"

"You're perceptive, but not perceptive enough." The agents who were already on the trailer quickly had Maria and Nightwing surrounded, pulling out weapons that were meant for a closer range of combat than the guns had been. "Get rid of those two."

"You take the right half, I've got the left," Maria muttered under her breath.

Nightwing didn't respond, instead choosing to launch himself at a MECH agent with what appeared to be using a couple nunchucks. Maria could hear the fighting starting, and took this as a signal. She promptly launched herself at one of the oncoming agents, her hands becoming covered in fire.

Much to the Reploid's surprise, the MECH agents weren't as much of a problem as she had expected. Without the technology that was at her level -- or, at least, at her firepower's level -- they weren't too difficult to deal with.

Maria melted the ninja star that was thrown at her -- her scans had picked up poison, but she didn't want to reveal that her neck was as sturdy as her armor just yet. She glared at the last conscious MECH agent who had thrown it, then pounced on him and sent the agent flying off the trailer.

"Did you really have to do that?" Nightwing was gripping the front of an agent's jumpsuit, a nervous look on the MECH agent's face. Nightwing, however, looked more curious than anything.

"I doubt that they're going to give us any info," Maria replied with a shrug. "They haven't exactly been screaming every time I throw one off. He'll probably be fine." She looked up at the only other human -- besides the helicopter drivers -- who seemed to be present. "Shoo. Before I send a Fire Sphere into the propellers and send you flying into a tree."

Nightwing watched in surprise as the MECH agents retreated by jumping off the trailer.

The man's eyes narrowed. "Flare-Up, I will not leave so easily." He brought out a large gun that looked like it easily packed a lot of firepower. "This will blow both you and the semi sky high if you don't let me take the Energon."

 _::Optimus....::_ Maria opened up the comm-link as she uttered a word of warning.

:: _I am aware of the weapon he carries. However, I am carrying Agent Fowler and a trailer of Energon. I cannot risk revealing myself here::_

Maria's eyes closed, and she let out a sigh. "All right. Nightwing, you might want to steer clear."

Nightwing gave her a curious look, then retreated back a distance. The man above them watched with minor amusement as Maria stayed in place.

"And what do you think you can do against me?" The man got ready to charge up the weapon. "This could destroy you in a single blast."

"As could I." Maria's eyes opened, revealing that her blue irises had disappeared. "White Flare: 25 percent!" A white, flaming aura appeared around her, and the Reploid held her hands in front of her, forming a large ball of white fire. "Hah!" The ball split in two and was fired at both helicopters, engulfing them both. No damage was revealed, but electricity was sparking off both the flying machines and the man's weapon.

"Sir! We're losing power fast!" Maria's energy field died down and her eyes returned to normal as the man looked at the pilot behind him.

"Fine," he snarled. He glared back at Maria. "Know this, Flare-Up -- I will learn how to replicate those abilities of yours."

Maria gave him a dry smirk. "Suuure you will." She dropped the smile. "My powers can never be replicated by anybody."

"That we shall see."

The man leaned back into the helicopter and said something. A moment later, the two flying machines were flown away from the trailer and off into the distance.

"Scrapheap," Maria muttered under her breath.

"I take it you recognized him," Nightwing noted.

"Not really, but I can guess at who he probably is. According to what I've read, there's a guy named Silas who leads MECH -- and has also gone out on raids against the Cybertronians on both sides."

:: _It does not help that they seem to find technology so easy to grasp::_

"Hey!" Fowler peered out of the semi's cab from the driver's side. "Which one of you two sent Silas packing?!"

"That was me, sir!" Maria waved to the agent. "I used a weakened equivalent of my White Flare attack to give them some engine trouble -- took out that guy's gun, too."

Fowler's eyes narrowed, then widened upon seeing who was with Maria. He quickly obtained a deadpan expression. "Great. When you said you had chosen someone who you trusted, I did not expect a loony from Gotham."

Nightwing's eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, this 'loony' just helped to save your tail. The least you could do is be thankful."

"I could have found his mentor, but Nightwing was right there," Maria explained over the roaring wind.

Fowler's eyes narrowed even further, but he said nothing, instead getting back into the cab, muttering something that Maria couldn't catch over the wind.

"So, why was it that we didn't go out over the edge of the road when he yelled at us?" Nightwing knew that something was up with the semi.

"What if I told you that the semi's been driving himself?" Maria asked with a smirk.

"You mean it has an autopilot?"

"Nope! It's a sentient being!"

Nightwing's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying that is the Cybertronian?"

"Bingo!" Maria exclaimed, grinning. :: _K. He knows that there's a Cybertronain who's driving us to your base. You want me to do the introduction, or should that wait until we get to the base?::_

_::Let us save the introductions until I can properly present myself. We will be there in a few klicks::_

Maria nodded. "We're going to be reaching their base soon, Nightwing. Then our driver's going to introduce himself properly."

Nightwing nodded. "No reason to show himself out in the open."

"Exactly. Besides, he's still connected to the trailer." Maria paused a moment before adding, "Don't be surprised when you see four kids hanging out in the base."

"Kids?" Nightwing's eyes narrowed.

"One of them is my brother. The other three ended up getting pulled into this when they saw the Autobots fighting a couple Decepticons. I'm expecting at least one of them to go into fan-mode."

"I appreciate the warning." Nightwing didn't so much as bat an eye when Maria mentioned the names of the two factions.

Maria's blue eyes turned out to the stretch of land, catching sight of a large plateau. "There it is. You might want to flatten yourself against the trailer; I don't know how high of an opening we've got."

Nightwing gave her a curious look, then noticed that the semi was starting to pick up speed and was starting to drive off the road, toward the plateau. Taking her advice, he got down on one knee as they watched the rock formation approach. Maria mimicked the movement, then went even further by lying on her stomach and putting her arms under her chin.

Just as the semi was about to seemingly ram into the rock wall, a hidden door opened up, letting the semi, the trailer, and its occupants inside.


	14. Chapter 14

"Matt!"

The mentioned teen looked up in surprise as an orange blur tackled him, pushing him deeper into the couch.

"Oof!" Matt looked at the figure's face in surprise. "Maria? What are you doing here? I thought you were back at Mt. Justice helping them out!"

"The big bot asked me to keep an eye on the Energon shipment so that MECH wouldn't get it," Maria explained, getting off her brother. Matt then noticed the semi and trailer sitting in the middle of the base, right in front of the Ground Bridge. He also saw the figure standing on top of it, and Fowler standing below next to the trailer with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Who's that?" Jack, who had been sitting next to Matt, got up and tried to get a better view of the figure on the trailer.

"Oh, him?" Maria glanced over at the figure. "That's Nightwing. I needed someone to watch my back, so I asked Nightwing to come along." She smirked. "Optimus actually suggested it." She walked over to the railing on the platform, jumped onto it, then did a backflip and landed on a hoverboard mid-air, much to Jack's surprise.

"You can _fly_?"

Maria grinned at the human's surprise.

"Gear gave me this." She motioned to the hoverboard. "This is a hover board -- most likely a prototype. He made it so that it could compact and become something inconspicuous."

"You mean...like a battery pack on your back?"

Maria turned, seeing Raf coming up the stairs, Miko right behind him.

"This is unreal." Miko looked from the top of the trailer to Maria. "Two superheroes at once! Awesome!"

Maria chuckled. "My, aren't you rambunctious. Name's Maria -- I'm Matt's sister. Code name's Flare-Up." She motioned with her head over to the trailer. "Over there's Nightwing."

"I'm Miko! Is it true that you were a part of the group that blew up the building? How is it that you're flying? Is it true that you come from another world?"

"Slow down!" Maria smirked. "Yes, I helped to blow up the LexCorp building. I've got a hoverboard _and_ jet boosters, and didn't Matt already tell you guys that we come from an alternate Earth?"

A loud noise suddenly caught their attention, and the group turned, seeing Ratchet assisting Optimus with disconnecting the trailer, the medic occasionally looking at Nightwing curiously. The Gotham teen, however, looked a little lost for words as he tried to keep his balance when the Autobot lifted one end of the trailer up.

"He's cool, Nightwing!" Maria called out. "Ratchet's their medic!"

The two mentioned looked at Maria, then at each other.

"Good to know," Nightwing called back as Ratchet set the trailer down. "Is there anyone else you want to introduce me to?"

"Yeah!" Maria moved to fly above each of the humans present as she said their names. "These guys are Jack, Miko, Raf, and my brother, Matt." She grinned down at the humans. "Guys, meet Nightwing."

"One of the humans from that Gotham city?" Ratchet inquired as Optimus drove a slight distance away from the trailer. "How is it that one human can attract so much criticism from your own kind?"

"Humans that think we're freaks because we arrest freaks." Nightwing crossed his arms over his chest, then looked at the red and blue semi. "So, who's he?"

As if in answer, the semi suddenly started to change shape, reconfiguring into something that stood at a height that was taller than Ratchet. Within seconds, Optimus Prime was standing there, looking down at Nightwing with a slightly interested look.

"Whoa...." Maria's eyes widened in awe when she saw transformation.

"I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots," Optimus introduced.

Nightwing looked up at Optimus, a calm look on his face. Maria could have sworn that she could hear the gears turning in his head.

Eventually, he asked, "How is it that someone your size can turn into a semi?"

"As Cybertronains, we can reconfigure our mass to fit into any size or shape," Ratchet explained.

A large elevator door opened up, revealing Bulkhead, Arcee, Bumblebee. All three of them stepped out, only to stop short upon seeing the figure standing on the trailer.

"Optimus, who's this?" Arcee stepped forward in order to get a better look at Nightwing.

"My name is Nightwing," Nightwing replied. "I'm a member of the Justice League."

"The humans who go around doing crazy stunts?" Bulkhead and the other two made their way forward.

"Not everyone on their team is human." Maria flew forward, catching the Autobots' attention. "I'm Maria, Matt's sister."

"I'm Bulkhead. So...you're the kid who blew up that building?" Bulkhead looked Maria over. "You don't look so tough."

"She half-shorted out two of MECH's helicopters," Nightwing stated. "And the weapon Silas carried."

"That was only at 25 percent. At 100, I could easily reach volcanic temperature levels." Maria shuddered a little as Ratchet quickly scanned her form. "Hey! That tickles!"

Ratchet gave her a curious look, then looked at what his scan had picked up. "Strange. You seem to have a power source with an energy signal almost identical to that of Energon."

Maria looked at the medic in surprise. "Really? The Atlantean Crystal is that close in comparison? I wasn't expecting that."

"Atlantean crystal?" Miko frowned. "Are you saying that you've actually been to Atlantis?"

"That's impossible," Raf stated. "It's just a myth."

"Not on this or other worlds." Maria grinned. "Ever heard of the movie _Atlantis: The Lost Empire_? The movie Disney released?"

"Yes, she's saying she's been there," Matt stated, catching Jack, Miko, and Raf by surprise.

Maria nodded. "That was the first place that I traveled to." She tapped her chest. "When I was transferred into this robotic form, Dr. Light made the crystal my power source."

"While this is all very informative, that doesn't give me much to go on for your Cybertronian friends," Nightwing stated flatly. Turning to look at Optimus, he said, "Maria said you guys were having problems with a war."

Optimus nodded. "The Decepticons, Cybertronians intent on destroying us and other life forms, have followed us here in an attempt to wipe us out. Thankfully, they have yet to do so."

"Although, it doesn't exactly help us much that we now know there is more to this planet that alien Energon deposits." Ratchet motioned to the trailer for evidence. "According to what Maria has told us, there are Cybertronian artifacts here, as well."

Nightwing looked at the mentioned Reploid. "You told them what Batman's been tracking?"

"So what if I did?" Maria replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "I kind of knew about the relics before, but I don't know what they are or where they are yet."

"How important would these relics be?"

"Very important." The dark blue/purple femme stepped forward. "My designation is Arcee. These two are Bumblebee and Bulkhead."

At the mentioning of his name, the yellow and black mech gave a wave to Nightwing. Bulkhead simply gave a nod instead.

Nightwing nodded to the mentioned Autobots in turn, then turned his attention fully to Arcee. "What exactly can these relics do?"

"Most of them are probably recordings of our history, but there are a lot of them that are weapons, too," the femme replied. "It would be dangerous if the Decepticons managed to get their hands on them."

"Considering they already have use of Dark Energon, as the human Lex Luthor seems to have attempted to access," Optimus Prime noted. He looked over the humans present, his optics lingering on Maria and Matthew. "Tell me, how much you know of this human?"

Jack, Miko, and Raf looked at each other, then over at Maria and Matthew, who both looked strangely grim.

"Lex Luthor's a technological genius," Matthew stated. "But while he's tried to help the world, he's had twice as many schemes about destroying it."

"He's tried to defile Superman's image more times than the _fans_ on our world would care to count," Maria added. "And if anyone gets to be aware of his antics, he usually tries to pretend to turn a new leaf and play the philanthropist card, or pays off the person with a huge bribe in order to keep their mouth shut."

"He's made a whole manner of deals with fellow villains -- both human and alien alike -- and he usually tries to double-cross them in order to get all the power for himself," Matthew continued.

"He's been known to get into some rather... _sticky_ situations that way," Maria finished. A rather sinister look crossed her face at the thought of what she had read and seen in the comics and cartoons.

"Sounds like the human version of Starscream," Bulkhead noted. "But smarter."

Nightwing gave the green Autobot a curious look. "Starscream?"

"A Decepticon." Arcee had the human's attention. "Megatron gave him the second in command position, but Starscream is too ambitious for his own good."

"What do you mean?" Maria asked, curious.

"From what we've heard, he tries to off his boss, only to come groveling back when it doesn't work," Bulkhead replied. "Or he runs if it looks like his boss is ready to off _him_."

"Well, isn't that cowardly." Maria snorted. "Ambitious, cowardly, stupid, smart, loyal...what a nutcase." She shifted in order to look directly at Matthew. "But it's a combo we've seen before, right, Matt?"

Her brother nodded. "Right. Second in commands across the universe have tried to off their evil leaders as often as they accept orders. It's possible that something could change the situation, though."

"Which could be anything," Maria muttered, frowning. She crossed her arms over her chest, lost in thought for a moment before looking over at the Autobots. "The only Decepticon I've heard about so far is Starscream. What about the others -- what are they like?"

The Autobots exchanged glances -- at least, most of them did. Optimus just gained a thoughtful expression.

"It you are going to be assisting us, it would make sense that you would need to know the dangers," Optimus stated calmly. He gave a nod to Ratchet, and the red and white mech moved over to the computer system and pressed a few keys. Moments later, pictures appeared on the green computer screens.

"This is Starscream." Ratchet motioned to the slim, red and gray mech with upward-turned wings and high-heel shaped feet. "He is the former second-in-command of the Decepticon forces."

Maria snorted, holding a hand over her mouth as she tried to contain what appeared to be laughter. "He looks like a girl!"

The Autobots looked at each other with blank expressions while the humans who _had_ seen Starscream before gave mixed reactions of amusement -- Miko burst out laughing as soon as Maria had finished speaking.

"Oh, wow, I never saw that!" Miko exclaimed. "He's got stiletto heels and everything!"

"Many Seekers have this body type," Ratchet stated, frowning. "I do not see how this is funny."

"It's got a lot to do with Earth culture, Ratchet," Raf explained, looking greatly amused himself.

The medic snorted and shook his head before turning to the next hologram -- a gray-armored mech with spikes on his shoulders and a strange, bucket-shaped helmet that fit snugly on his head. The mech's red eyes seemed to bore holes into those looking at him, the face shifted into a sneer.

Maria's blue eyes weren't on the mech's, however. They were on the purple, pointed symbol on the mech's chest.

"This is Megatron," Ratchet stated grimly. "The leader of the Decepticons."

"That symbol on his chest," Maria stated quickly. "That's their symbol, isn't it? The Decepticon's symbol?"

Optimus nodded grimly. "That is correct."

"I saw that -- in my vision. But there was something else to it, too something else behind it." Maria gained a concerned expression, and rubbed the back of her head. "I-I'm not really sure as how to describe it...." She shook her head. "I'll see if I can make sense of it later."

"You'd better," Arcee remarked. "That vision of yours would be a nightmare if it did come true."

"That's the vibe I'm getting from all this...." The Reploid looked over at Ratchet. "Are there any other Decepticons besides those two that we need to worry about?"

Ratchet nodded grimly. "Yes, there are certainly more Decepticons that we need to watch for." He turned to the computer for a moment and hit a few more keys, resulting in the monitors flickering for a moment before two different mechs appeared. "Soundwave is the communications officer of the Decepticons, as well as the third in command. Knock Out is their medic, and is one of the two ground-type Cybertronians among the Decepticons on Earth."

"He looks like a sissy," Matthew noted, looking up and down the red-and-black, smug-looking mech.

"A sissy?" Maria moved her attention from the monitors to her brother.

"Yeah. See that paint job? It's definitely a lot more shiny than his." Matthew motioned to the other mech that was up on the monitor: a purple-black mech with spiky headgear and a black sheen of glass where his face was supposed to be. "If he's their medic, he may only be doing cosmetics for the most part."

"Which may be why he has a so-called assistant." Ratchet brought up two more figures and motioned to the first one: a blue-themed mech that, if he was a human, he would have looked extremely muscular. He also had a strangely orange face and one yellow eye -- the other being covered by a piece of metal that looked like an eyepatch.

The wave of anger that came over Maria nearly made her release a growl; the Reploid managed to hold it down because she was surprised at the emotional action, however.

 _Where did_ that _come from?_

"Breakdown may be a medic-in-training, but he's better with his hammers than anything else," Bulkhead growled. "Next time I meet him, he's _definitely_ going down!"

 _*Maybe in this world at your servos, Bulk*_ Inferno growled. _*But in mine, Breakdown is getting destroyed by_ me _!*_

 _?!!!!_ Maria couldn't believe her mental ears. Inferno knew Breakdown? _She_ was from a world that interacted with these very Autobots and Decepticons?!

What were the odds?!

"You're not the only one who wants to see a Con taken down," Arcee growled. Maria and Matthew both noticed how intently she was glaring at the only female Con on the monitor. It appeared as though she was wearing some sort of metallic dress, but the purple eyes and sinister sneer on the femme's white face made Maria think that there was something more to this Con....

"Who is that?" Maria asked, blinking in slight confusion as she took the sight in.

"Arachnid," Arcee growled.

"Arachnid is a special kind of Cybertronian," Ratchet stated carefully. "She has extra legs which she can deploy to move like your Earth spiders."

"Meaning that she makes webs too, right?" Matt guessed.

Arcee nodded grimly.

"Some kind of...bug-bot...." Maria frowned, thinking back to a few nights ago, when she had interacted with members of the Justice League and their young apprentices. Plus, the statement that Inferno had made made the blue-eyed teen feel even more confused -- what would a person from a Cybertronian dimension be doing in her head, when Maria's own world didn't have them in existence?

"They're nearly impossible to break out of, too," Jack stated, not having heard Maria's mutterings.

The Reploid turned and looked at Jack in surprise. "You've run into her?"

"Yeah. And it wasn't exactly fun, either, considering that she wanted my head." Jack made a scowling expression.

"Yeesh," Maria shuddered. "I'd suspected that you guys would end up getting into some trouble, but I didn't think there'd be anything like _that_."

"That wasn't as bad as when Ratchet was experimenting with Synthetic Energon," Raf pointed out, pointing over at the aforementioned medic.

" _Synthetic_ Energon?"

"Apparently, there was some sort of equation that they found not too long ago that could take the place of regular Energon in case they ran out," Matthew explained. "Ratchet experimented with some and ended up going a bit off-kilter for a little while." The eighteen-year-old shrugged.

"Really?" Maria looked over at Ratchet in surprise. "Didn't you use it on...some sort of engine to make sure it was all right or something?"

The medic scowled. "Now is not the time to speak of my past mistakes. Something we _should_ be discussing is what to do with you now that you are here rather than on the East Coast with your Justice League."

"The only reason we came here is because of the Energon transfer," Nightwing replied, speaking up so suddenly that Miko actually stiffened a little; Maria found herself strangely amused at the fact that the hyperactive teenager was surprised by a member of the Justice League.

"We can go back now, but it would take a few days. Batman is going to want to know what the two of us were doing so far out, and he is _not_ going to want to take anything that we might use as a cover story." As the vigilante was speaking, he turned his attention to the rather... _well-rounded_ African American, who had been keeping his gaze on Nightwing the entire time Rachet had been explaining about the Decepticons to Maria.

"I would rather not see the two of you going back now, considering that the Decepticons may have seen you following us," Optimus Prime suddenly rumbled. "The trailer was not made in order to shield the energy signal Energon gives off. Therefore, the Decepticons may know that you two have come into contact with us."

Maria frowned upon hearing this. "I'm sure that a couple Vehicons coming after us wouldn't be so bad."

"Wouldn't be so bad?!" Ratchet spluttered. "You haven't faced them!"

"But Blue Beetle and I _have_ , and they were Luthor knock-offs," Nightwing replied gruffly. "If they were as tough as the two we faced, I doubt that we're going to have any trouble."

"And I've faced a lot of majorly tough opponents myself," Maria added. "I'm a World Jumper -- it's kinda in my resume now, _especially_ after my second time off-world. Plus, if these guys are metal, then they're not going to like me very much."

"What makes you say that?" Raf asked.

Maria looked back at the twelve-year-old and grinned. "I'd melt them if they tried to attack me."

_*Need I remind you that they're alien life forms that may have lives of their own? You set your morals up a long time ago, Maria -- no killing, remember?*_

Maria paused and gained a thoughtful expression, realizing that the voice at the back of her mind was probably right. Decepticons did have life in them, and she Maria had decided some time ago that she was _not_ planning on killing anybody _at all_ \-- or, at least, if she could find a way to avoid the option.

"Well, maybe not melt them _completely_ , but I'd still disable them so that they wouldn't be able to hurt anybody," the Reploid amended.

_*Better*_

"Despite your abilities, I do not think that it would be a good idea for the two of you to face Decepticons alone," Optimus responded. "For this reason, you will remain here until Ratchet has finished repairing the Ground Bridge."

"What?!" Nightwing turned sharply to face the leader of the Decepticons. "You can't be serious! We can't stay here -- Batman and the Justice League --"

"Can handle themselves without you for a few days," Fowler responded sharply. "I may not completely approve of your mentor's actions, but they seem to be doing the right thing whether or not you're there to help."

"Agent Fowler has a point," Matthew spoke up. He walked over to the railing and looked down at the vigilante, who was now standing with his arms crossed over his chest...and still on top of the trailer. "The Justice League has more heroes than just your team. If worst comes to worst, Batman will probably try to hunt you down in order to make sure you're helping to prevent a crisis."

The eighteen-year-old turned his blue eyes from Nightwing to his year-younger sister. "Besides, this might be as good a time as any for me to be able to get more of a grip on my abilities. Do you think you can help?"

"Probably," Maria replied. "But that's not the only thing you're going to need help with -- you can't just rely on your aura to get through a fight."

"And you can help me with that, too."

"No, I can't. You're looking at a girl who doesn't let anyone get close enough for hand-to-hand." Maria shook her head, her brown hair shifting over her armored shoulders. "I can help you with energy constructs, but anything beyond that isn't going to be of much help."

"Hey! Maybe Nightwing could do that!" Miko pointed down at Nightwing, causing Jack and Raf to look at her in shock.

"Are you _crazy?"_ Jack demanded. "Nightwing wouldn't --"

"Actually, that isn't a bad idea."

Everyone looked down at Nightwing with slightly surprised looks on their faces.

"If we're going to be stuck here until this...'Ground Bridge' of yours is fixed, then I may as well do _something_ to mull over what I should say to Batman."

Maria grinned and looked over at Matthew, who had a befuddled expression on his face that faded into slight nervousness.

"Well, so long as I get _some_ kind of training in...." Matthew muttered. He turned and started down the stairs towards the ground floor. "Come on -- I'll show you guys where the training room is." He looked over at the Autobots. "Does someone want to come down with us?"

The Autobots exchanged glances for a moment. Then Optimus spoke up.

"Bulkhead, take Bumblebee and patrol in case any Decepticons decide to show themselves," Optimus stated calmly. "Arcee, you go down to the Safe with Matthew, Maria, and Nightwing."

The dark blue two-wheeler gave a nod, then started back towards the elevator while Bumblebee and Bulkhead transformed down to their alt-modes and drove out. Maria watched the two mechs go before coming down to the ground and jumping off her hoverboard; the device transformed into a small box and connected with her back.

"Cool," Miko stated from above. Maria rolled her eyes and smirked at the girl's statement.

Nightwing jumped down from the trailer easily, landing in a crouch before getting to his feet and looking over in the direction Matthew was already walking, which happened to be towards a giant elevator of sorts.

"Which way are we going?" Maria asked as they stepped inside the elevator.

"Down," Arcee replied.


	15. Chapter 15

"Wow...." Maria looked around as they stepped out of the elevator. "I didn't even think that this place had any lower levels."

"We took advantage of every corner of this base," Arcee replied, glancing down at the Reploid. "You can go ahead and test out our training course -- or the simulator that Ratchet installed recently."

"Simulator?"

Arcee pointed Maria in the direction of what appeared to be a large, gray box on one side of huge room. "We have data on the Decepticons battle styles in there. You can test yourself against them, if you want."

"Cool!" Maria dashed off. Matthew was about to follow her, but then Nightwing grabbed his arm.

"You wanted my kind of training, didn't you?" the vigilante asked.

"Uh...yeah...right...." Matthew swallowed, then followed Nightwing over to a large mat that looked like it could easily handle two large Cybertronians sparring on top of it. "Do you want me to call you Nightwing for now or--"

"Nightwing is fine," Nightwing answered curtly. He came to a stop on the mat and turned to look at Matthew. "You're just a civilian, so you shouldn't be calling me by my other name."

"All right." Matthew shrugged. So what are we going to do, the--?"

Matthew was cut off when Nightwing suddenly rammed into him, causing the eighteen-year-old to fall onto his back.

"Hey! I wasn't ready!" Matthew exclaimed.

"You're going to have to be at all times," Nightwing replied. He moved away from Matthew, allowing the brown-.haired, blue-eyed boy to get to his feet. "Your reflexes need some work. Your muscles seemed to tense when I hit you, but it wasn't enough."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that."

The two boys got into fighting stances, fists held in front of them in a stance that could either be considered defensive or offensive. The two stood like this, glaring at each other in order to see who would move first.

Eventually, Matthew just gave in to the bubbling feeling of impatience in his chest and ran forward, bringing an arm back for a punch and letting out a yell. Seconds later, the teen stumbled back with a hand to his stomach, groaning.

"Never leave yourself wide open," Nightwing admonished.

"Easy for you to say -- you've done this for longer." Matt took a moment to catch his breath, then lashed out again, aiming for Nightwing's stomach himself. A second later, he found himself lying on his back on the mat, Nightwing looking down at him.

"You're going to need a lot of work," Nightwing noted. He held out a hand to help Matt up.

Matt accepted the gesture. "I'm no trapeze artist -- this sort of thing doesn't come naturally."

Nightwing's eyes narrowed at Matt's statement, but he said nothing. Instead, Matt ended up on the floor again.

Meanwhile, Maria was going after large holoforms in the combat simulator. She had it set for the Decepticon known as Starscream and a bunch of Vehicons, just to see how much her fire would be able t affect beings with armor and weapons like theirs. Presently--thanks to the fact that this was a _digital_ simulation and not one that was going to completely drain her energy reserves--Maria was getting really close to unleashing her White Flare attack.

"Sheesh, these guys don't know when to give it a rest," Maria muttered under her breath. She jumped out of the way of a purple blast of energy and glared up at a now leg-less drone who was starting to bleed out a blue substance all over the place. "I beat you! Now stay down!"

A flash of blue suddenly went across Maria's vision, and her eyes widened in alarm when she saw that Arcee had suddenly come in and sliced off the purple Decepticon's head with what looked like blades coming out of the outside of her arms.

"The Vehicons are just drones," Arcee stated without looking down at Maria. The Autobot started to systematically take out each of the Vehicons that Maria had managed to disable in some way. "There's no point in try to talk some sort of sense into them."

"That's not why I was only melting off their legs or those energy cannons," the Reploid growled in reply, her blue eyes flashing a brighter shade for just a moment. "It's something that I decided to do as a part of my morals, and it's kind of become a part of who I am over the past couple of days."

"What do you mean?" Arcee frowned down at the Reploid. "And _why_ are you releasing fire like that? Are you overheating?"

"Hmmm?" Maria glanced at her right arm and saw that white flames were starting to come off her armor before pixelating and disappearing. "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Don't _worry_ about it?"

Before Maria could explain the reason why, there came the sound of a jet from above, followed by shifting metal. Maria and Arcee looked up just as a gray-and-red, slim mech with wings on his back landed in front of them with a sneering grin on his face.

"All right, Starscream," Maria muttered. "Let's see what you can do." The white fire on her arms started to build up in strength. "Arcee, you'd better take a few steps back."

The Reploid didn't even give the femme any time to shift her feet away from her. Instead, she took a few steps forward while Starscream aimed his right arm, with what looked like some sort of missile mounted on the top. When Maria stopped moving, his digits--fingers--twitched, and the missile was fired at the Reploid.

"White Flare: Seventy-Five Percent!"

The fire that had been flickering on Maria's form suddenly came together and swallowed the missile, causing it to explode without giving anyone any damage. But the white flames didn't stop there--the attack continued on and encased Starscream in a swirling tornado. As soon as he was fully hidden from view, Starscream let out a shriek that grated against the ears of both Arcee and Maria.

"Fire Storm!" Maria roared.

The fire quickly dissipated, revealing Starscream standing there with melted patches all over his armor. A look of shock was frozen on his face.

But what really caught Maria's attention was the Con's chest. Sparks were flying from a particularly large melted patch, and it looked like there was Energon leaking out and slowly crawling down his form.

"That's the first time I've done a seventy-five percent," Maria noted. "And I think I'll be saving that as a last resort -- my full White Flare, too."

Starscream disappeared in a flash of pixels, and the Vehicons that Maria had disabled and Arcee had offlined disappeared in the same way.

"What _was_ that?" Arcee demanded, looking down at Maria in surprise. "I didn't think humans could handle attacks like that."

"We usually don't," Maria replied with a shrug. "I don't know how I got them in the first place, but I'm glad that I can make use of them in the situations that I get into. Besides, I'm not... _technically_ human anymore." She tapped her red, orange, and gray armor, as though that was proof enough, then started walking out of the combat simulator.

"You mentioned that before," Arcee noted, taking one step for five of Maria's. "But you still look human."

"Looking human and being human are two different things. In reality, I'm a very advanced type of human-made robot from another world. My kind are called Reploids."

"Uh huh. And how'd you end up like this?"

"An accident involving a lot of shrapnel." Maria sighed. "Honestly, I don't know what that guy was thinking when he decided to attack me like that. I mean, the robots on that world aren't allowed to do harm to any human being because of programming constraints. I guess it's got something to do with who made him, but still...." The brown-haired girl shook her head. "I'm just glad that Dr. Light was able to save my life when he did."

Matthew suddenly let out a yell, and Arcee and Maria stopped and looked over in the direction of the mat that Matthew and Nightwing were fighting on. It appeared that the Justice League member was using a wrestling move and was sitting on Matthew's back while yanking his arms in a direction that clearly looked painful.

"OK! OK!" Matthew yelped. "Get off!"

"Your brother isn't as experienced as you are," Arcee noted.

"Because he hasn't traveled away from home as often as I have -- I mean, you can't learn how to fight just by leaving your home twice if you don't remember the first time you left. And this is my fifth time, so...."

Matthew had managed to get to his feet while the two were talking, but when he tried to ram into Nightwing again, he ended up getting thrown over the other's shoulder and slammed into the mat with another yell.

"It's interesting that a human was given that kind of responsibility," Arcee noted. "Traveling between worlds...it sounds too surreal."

"That's not even the half of it," Maria replied dryly. "There are a whole lot of other worlds out there that I haven't been to yet. And there are probably others that branch off the ones I've been to, too."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm still trying to figure it out myself. It's something that I read about some time ago--a Multiverse theory. Basically, every thing that we do has another choice that we could have done instead. As a result, the choice we didn't do causes an alternate world to form with the unmade choice. Because of that, there's an infinite number of worlds out there that are constantly being added on to, and who knows which one that I'm going to end up getting called to?"

"Called to?" Arcee gave Maria an odd look.

"It seems that World Jumpers are supposed to try and keep places in balance," the Reploid explained. "Someone told me that the last time I left home, and I can kind of see how I'm accomplishing that in the worlds I've been to. But I haven't been able to figure out what I'm supposed to do here to keep the world in balance."

Matthew let out a yelp, but Maria didn't really look over in the direction of the two fighting boys to see what the two of them were doing.

"If you've done this before, it shouldn't be all that difficult," Arcee noted.

Maria snorted. "I'm not even sure that I'll be able to handle it this time. I mean, there's you guys and then there's the Justice League -- a crazy alien war _and_ all the villains that come with them. I don't even know where to start, considering that I don't know squat about what you guys can do."

"You'll learn fast," Arcee replied.

Matt suddenly let out a roar, catching Maria's attention as Nightwing was thrown onto the wrestling mat. Her brother looked horribly beaten up -- there were areas on his arms that would clearly be bruised and sore later -- and he also looked angry.

"What did you say to him, Nightwing?" Maria called out. "Did you insult one of his friends by accident or something?"

Nightwing got up from the ground. "Maybe." He looked over at Matt, who had started to calm down a little. "I didn't expect him to react like that."

"I'm normally calm, but if anyone insults Kira, then I go off the deep end," Matt replied. "I'm a little...overprotective of her like that."

"I'll keep that in mind." Nightwing motioned for Matt to come at him. "Let's see if you can try that again."

Matt gave the Gotham hero a look of surprise. "Right now? Can't I have a breather?"

"You can have a breather when you drop."

Matthew let out a groan, but he complied and got into a stance just seconds before coming at Nightwing. The vigilante dodged Matthew's ramming and would have kept unscathed were it not for the fact that his pupil managed to lash out with a leg and kicked Nightwing's legs out from underneath him.

"Nice one, Matt!" Maria called out.

"Thanks!" Matthew turned and gave his younger sister a thumbs-up, but was caught in a ramming attack from Nightwing, sending the eighteen-year-old sprawling.

"Never lose your concentration in a fight," Nightwing warned.

"Easy for you to say; you've got experience." Matthew got to his feet and turned to look at Nightwing again. "That's why I'm learning."

"That's why you're _trying_ to," Nightwing corrected. "Let's try this again."

Matthew let out a groan. Maria, however, grinned.

"This is going to be interesting," the Reploid remarked.

**Time Break**

When Maria, Matthew, Nightwing, and Arcee came up hours later, it was in the late evening, and Matthew looked like he was about to collapse on his feet.

"You look like you were sent through the wringer," Miko remarked from above, laughing.

"Let's see you come down here and try to fight Nightwing, then," Matthew called back with a growl.

Miko gained a nervous look and quickly dashed around behind the couch and peered out from behind Jack, who looked surprised.

"So, where's Raf and Fowler?" Maria asked, looking up at the group.

"Raf...went home with Bumblebee already," Jack replied, eyeing the group down on the ground floor. "Fowler disappeared before he did. I've got to get going, too, but I couldn't leave without Arcee or Matt."

"Thanks for waiting," Matthew stated tiredly. "I'm kind of looking for a place that isn't going to be a bed made of metal -- no offense." He looked up at Arcee as he quickly spoke.

"None taken," Arcee replied coolly. She looked over at Optimus, who was standing near Ratchet. The medic had a large wrench in his hand and was screwing what looked like a bolt into the frame of the Ground Bridge tunnel. "I don't suppose the Bridge is any closer to done than you were earlier."

Ratchet growled, but didn't look over in the femme's direction. "It is going to take longer than an afternoon to fix a Ground Bridge."

"How long will it take?" Nightwing asked.

"A week at most, if nothing else decides to go wrong besides what has already occurred...and I've been meaning to look for any extensive damage that may have been left by the Scraplets and Makeshift's sudden attack."

"Makeshift...." Maria rolled the name around in her mouth, but gained no reaction from Inferno. The Reploid wondered who exactly Makeshift was, and suspected that he might be a Decepticon, since Ratchet used the word "attack" rather than "accident".

"A week will leave my Team worried," Nightwing noted, frowning.

"Well, I am not about to allow you to go through the Ground Bridge and end up in a place like the Arctic Circle!"

"It could do that?" Maria asked, shaken out of her thoughts by the red and white medic's exclamation.

"Of course. The Ground Bridge is a device which allows the user to travel from one location to another within a limited area. Considering that the limited area on this planet encompasses it in its entirety, one could travel anywhere."

Ratchet sounded somewhat proud as he spoke, and Maria wondered if he had actually managed to build it.

"So it's like a Zeta Tube, then," Nightwing guessed.

"Zeta Tube?" Ratchet gave the human a curious expression.

"A system of teleporters that are connected to certain locations across the globe," the vigilante explained. "We use them to get to trouble spots quickly."

"You already _have_ this technology?" Ratchet looked like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"They have super-geniuses here on this planet," Maria replied, tapping the side of her head. "Of course they would. But none of them are _that_ big." She motioned to the Ground Bridge.

"I wouldn't expect it, considering that none of you ever reach our size," Ratchet growled in reply. He turned and started to work on the Ground Bridge again, hitting the side of it with his wrench out of frustration.

"Nightwing."

The vigilante looked up at Optimus, who had been watching the proceedings with a guarded expression.

"Yes, Optimus?" Nightwing asked.

"I have been considering the actions of you and your allies, and I believe that the Earth is in good hands with them."

"We've done what we can, but some villains have still managed to slip from our fingers," Nightwing responded with a slight scowl. "So long as they're still escaping from prisons and causing trouble, I doubt that we're ever going to have a semblance of peace."

"I would not have wanted a child to carry this burden."

"It was my choice. Batman took me on after I asked him--he didn't ask this of me."

Optimus eyed Nightwing for a moment, then gave a slight nod. "So long as you had the choice."

Nightwing gave a nod in reply. "The Justice League wouldn't let any of us just join--we either have to have a skill or the willpower to make it as one of their members."

"We?" Arcee looked down at the vigilante. "Don't tell me there's _more_ at your age."

"All right. I won't." A sly smile crept across Nightwing's face, and Maria did her best to suppress a laugh. "The Team would probably surprise you with what they can do, though."

"The Team?" Arcee repeated.

"Isn't that the group that works under the Justice League?" Jack asked.

"Yup," Maria responded. "Nightwing and Batman work together in order to get them missions and training sessions when they need them."

"And we have seen stranger things than giant talking robots," Nightwing added. "We were the planet'a defense against the Reach."

When Nightwing said this, Optimus looked over at Bulkhead, who had been standing in a more secluded area of the base's main level. The mech looked strangely nervous.

"We had arrived here mere days before the Reach did," Arcee stated, looking over at Nightwing. "Had this country's government not insisted on keeping us out, we might have assisted you in keeping your world safe."

Nightwing gave a curt nod. "I know how it goes with them."

Optimus looked over at the femme, then, and something passed through the expression in his optics for a moment. He looked down at Nightwing. "Considering that this 'Team' of yours has already seen one of our own, and MECH knows that you have assisted us at least in some way, it may be necessary that you allies know more of what they have stumbled upon."

Ratchet looked at Optimus sharply, optics widening. "Optimus, you don't mean--"

"I do. However, I will not allow all of your allies to be here at once, considering that your allies are vast in number."

A grin started to spread its way across Maria's face. "You mean you're going to let the Justice League come here?"

Miko let out a squeal of delight. "All right! I get to meet superheroes!"

"Who said you were going to be here for that?" Nightwing shot back in reply. "You shouldn't be dragged deeper into this mess than you already are."

Miko huffed and crossed her arms over her chest while Bulkhead stepped forward, an annoyed look on his face.

"Hey, she's just as much a part of the team as I am," Bulkhead growled, glaring down at Nightwing. The teenage vigilante didn't even flinch from the look the green mech was giving him.

"Batman won't like it," Nightwing stated simply.

"Who said Batman was coming?" Matthew suddenly spoke up. Everyone looked over at the teenage boy, and he shifted his stance a little to accommodate for the attention. "He trusts Nightwing and the others to go out on their own when they go on missions. He'd trust them to go out on their own to meet the Autobots."

"But wouldn't that many teenagers showing up in the town draw too much attention?" Arcee asked, frowning. "Zeta Tube or no, it's going to be impossible for you to locate our base, even if it's made of human technology."

"Who said that we were coming in by our way?" Nightwing replied, smirking.

Maria frowned, only for her blue eyes to widen. "You don't mean you want to use the Ground Bridge to get them all here, do you?"

Ratchet's optics widened. "That I won't accept! We have more than enough humans to deal with as it is!"

"Well, we're going to end up running into each other eventually," Nightwing pointed out. "Batman has already started to lock down on the sources of the energy signals his satellites have been picking up. That's how we found out about Lex Luthor's Dark Energon mine in the first place."

The Autobots and humans allied with them looked at each other, considering Nightwing's statement.

"That might help us locate Decepticon Energon mines," Arcee noted, frowning slightly in thought.

Ratchet scowled. "We've had enough of humans getting involved, and seeing any one of them injured by a Decepticon would _not_ be recommended! Don't you remember how many times Miko has gotten Jack and Raphael into dangerous situations?!"

"If these kids could take on the Reach, they might be able to handle themselves," Bulkhead noted. He grinned. "I'd kind of like to meet that Superboy kid. He'd make a great Wrecker."

"We've had enough of him wrecking things, thank you," Nightwing replied curtly. "Giving him that title will only make things worse."

"Bulkhead did not mean to offend," Optimus spoke up. "The Wreckers are a military unit that are well-known among Cybertronians for their strength in battle...as well as their recklessness in some cases. It is very difficult for anyone to simply join their ranks."

"Yeah," Bulkhead agreed with a grin. "So, are they coming over or not?"

Optimus turned his gaze to the red and white medic, who soon found himself to be the subject of everyone's gazes. After a minute, let out a growl of annoyance. "Very well, they can come by Ground Bridge. But it will take some time for it to be fully operational again."

"Fine," Maria replied coolly. "We can wait that long." She looked in the direction of the elevator. "I'd like to have a few more rounds in that simulator of yours, anyway."

"And Matthew is not going to get off so easily," Nightwing added, sending the mentioned teenager a look.

Matthew let out a groan. "Oh, great."


	16. Chapter 16

Connor could tell M'gann was nervous. Shoot, everybody was nervous -- Nghtwing hadn't shown up for almost a week, and Maria was missing too. The Superman clone wasn't too concerned about the Reploid -- something about her told him she was going to be fine wherever she was -- but when Nightwing suddenly dropped off the radar....everybody steered clear of Batman for fear of setting him off.

Connor was going through the fridge looking for something to eat -- Static and Gear had the appetites of wolves -- only to practically jump out of his shoes when he saw Nightwing leaning against the counter when he shut the door.

"Dick?" Connor gave the Gotham teen a look of surprise. "What are you doing here? You've been off the radar for days -- Batman's on edge."

"I know. I just ran into him." Nightwing moved to stand beside the couch. "Maria and I ran into those Cybertronians a few days ago."

Connor's eyes widened. "You did? Have you --"

"We had to give him a report. What do you think?" Nightwing smirked. "Maria's talking to him now, filling in some of the holes she left out when she first mentioned them. We're planning on taking a small group back to their base so we can start to introduce them to the Justice League. Are you up to it?"

Connor frowned slightly. "Who else are you planning on bringing?"

"We're going to need different people to represent different races, so Kaldur and M'gann are no brainers. Kid Flash, Static, Gear, and Blue Beetle are going to be coming along, too. I figured that having you to come along as a partial rep of the Kryptonians wouldn't be so bad, either."

"I don't know anything about Krypton. Kara or Superman would have been a better choice."

"Supergirl's out doing something -- so is Superman. Besides, Batman said we could go without anyone from the 'big leagues' as a chaperone. So, how 'bout it?"

Connor frowned slightly, going over his options. "And if I don't?"

Nightwing shrugged. "You're going to end up meeting them anyway. Everybody is. We're just the welcoming party."

The clone's eyebrows arched. "Before Batman and the rest of the Justice League?"

Nightwing nodded, and Connor grinned.

"I don't see why not. So, where's everybody meeting?"

"Right outside of the base. Maria's going to head out there when we're good to go, and we're going to get ourselves a Ground Bridge straight into their base."

"Ground Bridge?" Connor frowned. "What's a Ground Bridge?"

"It's pretty much a giant-sized Zeta Tube, without all the scientific mumbo-jumbo that the guy who invented it gave us before we got here," Nightwing explained.

"Huh." Connor started to head for the door. "I don't suppose you're coming, too?"

"I only came back because Batman would have had Maria's head if I didn't. Her brother needs a lot of work." Nightwing followed Connor out of the living room/kitchen area and out in the main section of Mt. Justice.

"Her brother?"

"Kid named Matt. He was her 'connection' to the Autobots -- the Cybertronians."

"Auto? Oh, right -- Z mentioned something about that. They can turn into cars, right?"

Nightwing nodded. They were almost at the entrance of the base when they heard footsteps behind them. Turning, the two boys saw Maria running over.

"Everything ready?" Nightwing asked.

The blue-eyed Reploid nodded. "I don't think Batman was too happy about what I managed to tell him, but he gave us the OK. Did you get everybody?"

"Yeah. They should be waiting outside."

The Reploid nodded without bothering to look back as they exited the base.

Outside, the sun was still high in the sky; it appeared to be sometime in the early afternoon. The group that Nightwing had been working on gathering stood around the docks, looking bored.

Maria smirked, then put her left hand to the corresponding ear. "Hey, Ratch? Ya got my coordinates? Kay. We're ready here on our end."

"Who's Ratch?" Static asked, blinking in confusion.

"You'll find out soon enough," Maria replied with a smirk.

A large, green portal suddenly opened up beside her, causing those who hadn't seen one before to jump in alarm.

"This is a Ground Bridge, guys," Maria called out, noticing the others' reactions. "It'll take us straight to the Autobot base -- come on." She walked over to it, as did Nightwing. "It's not that much different from a Zeta Tube -- the only difference is that this once can handle anything bigger than a tank."

Gear let out a whistle. "And the Autobots use this?"

"All the time. Come on -- we promised that they'd get to meet some of the League, and you're it."

The group of teens looked at each other, Static and Gear grinning like idiots.

"I'm up for it!" Gear exclaimed. He dashed for the giant vortex, Static following close behind.

"I'm going to follow them through," Maria stated. "See you guys on the other side!"

**Line Break**

When Maria walked through the portal, she found a scene that she had been expecting: Gear was talking with Raf about some sort of technological invention -- robotic, computerized, Maria didn't know -- and Static was being bombarded with questions by an ecstatic Miko, the former looking a little nervous at the sudden amount of attention he was getting.

"Lay off the interrogation session a little, Miko!" Maria called out. "You're making him nervous." She nodded to Matt, who was standing next to Ratchet by the computers. "We've got a few more people coming in, yet."

A yellow blur zoomed past her and over to where Jack stood on the platform with the couch, coming to a screeching halt, revealing Kid Flash.

"Hi! I'm Kid Flash. Who're you?"

Jack gave the boy a surprised look. "I'm Jack."

"So...how long have you known these giant robots?"

Ratchet let out a growl of annoyance.

"Don't use the 'r' word," Jack warned. "And it's been a couple months. They've probably been on Earth for longer, though."

KF nodded, then looked up at Ratchet, not seemingly fazed by the Autobot's size. "So, who're you?"

"I am Ratchet," Ratchet replied as more figures came through, Nightwing being the last to come through. "I hope to Primus that's the last of them."

"Just one more," Nightwing replied. "She needed to clear her head a little."

"M'gann's nervous?" Maria asked. Upon seeing Nightwing nod, she remarked, "I would be, too, if I was in her situation."

Connor, who was standing next to Nightwing, nodded. "She told me a couple of those horror stories. Even I was set on edge, and that's saying something."

Maria turned her head toward the Ground Bridge slightly, catching sight of two figures coming through the portal. Her eyes widened slightly. "M'gann? Why'd you bring your uncle along?"

"Unintended adult chaperone?" Blue Beetle guessed dryly.

"I came to help M'gann to remain calm," Martian Manhunter replied. He looked up at Ratchet as the Autobot closed the Ground Bridge after making sure that there weren't any more human-sized figures coming through. "You look nothing like what has been described in the legends."

Ratchet raised an optic ridge. "What makes you say that?"

"There have been tales told on our home world of metallic beings which are capable of taking on the forms of giant insects. I'm afraid that these tales may have made my niece nervous."

Ratchet's optics narrowed almost instantly. "Insecticons are barbarians; creatures without true minds of their own."

"Certain Cybertronians have been known to control them, but they've been mostly Decepticons." A single, blue-purple figure approached out of the shadows. "I'm Arcee, Jack's guardian."

M'gann jumped in surprise upon seeing the Autobot, but the presence of her uncle kept her from trying to run. "I never thought that...." She looked away in embarrassment.

"That there were female Cybertronians?" Maria finished. "There has to be females in most species in order for them to survive."

"Most?" Ratchet raised an optic ridge.

"Some species here on Earth -- in the oceans -- don't really seem to care about that sort of thing." Maria shrugged. Looking at Arcee, she asked, "Where's everybody else?"

"Lower floor," Arcee replied. "Optimus decided that meeting in a wider space would be better than up here."

"Optimus?" Connor repeated.

_ "Their leader...." _

Maria looked over at Blue Beetle, who seemed surprised by the reverence Scarab had in his voice. Maria nodded slightly.

"Better not keep them waiting," Maria noted. She started for the elevator, the others following. Jack soon found himself standing beside M'gann in the elevator.

"What are they like?" M'gann asked quietly. Jack couldn't help but notice the gaze of Martian Manhunter as he looked around the area, taking note of those present. "The Autobots, I mean."

"Well, Ratchet's pretty cranky, but--"

"I mean, compared to humans."

"Oh." Jack looked around. "Well, they've been through a lot. They've been in this war for a long time, so they're pretty much soldiers. But they do care for us -- as guardians, like Arcee said. Kind of like what the Justice League does -- you guys make sure that everyone can live in safety. The Autobots do the same thing, but they work in secret."

M'gann frowned slightly. "They don't want to reveal themselves to humans?"

"Not on purpose." Miko piped up. "Jack, Raf and I got pulled into this only because they saw Arcee and Bumblebee -- Jack and Raf saw them when they were fighting a couple Decepticons, and I saw Arcee when she was talking to Jack." She looked over at the femme Autobot.

"They prefer to try to keep undercover for as long as possible," Raf added.

"Like...a secret identity?"

"Something like that."

The elevator suddenly came to a stop, and the doors opened, allowing for the group to step out.

Connor let out a whistle as he looked around, eyeing some of the weapons and training areas that were on the floor. "These guys certainly mean business."

"The Reach might not have been able to hold their own against them, if they were forced to meet," a dark-skinned boy noted--Kaldur, the Atlantean member of the group.

There was a grunt from Bulkhead, who was standing near a wall covered in an assortment of weapons. His arms were crossed over his chest. "That metal thing in the Arctic couldn't stand a hit from me. Those Reach guys aren't worth an ion blast."

"So _you're_ that green thing I saw there!" Kid Flash exclaimed. He zoomed over and up Bulkhead's armor, stopping on the Autobot's shoulder. "I never got to thank ya for helping out." He grinned.

"Uh...no problem?" Bulkhead gained a slightly dumbfounded expression at the teenager's hyper personality.

Maria's blue eyes widened in surprise. "You were in the Arctic when the Reach tried to destroy the planet's magnetic field?"

"Well, yeah." Bulkhead shrugged with the one shoulder that Kid Flash wasn't sitting on. "Optimus wanted me to check out what was going on, so I did."

"So, who are all these guys?" Static asked. Gear, meanwhile, simply looked around with a dropped jaw at everything that was on the lower level.

"I'll handle the introductions," Matthew spoke up. Turning to look at all the Team members present, he stated, "'K, guys. Meet the Autobots: Bulkhead, Arcee, Bumblebee, Ratchet, and their leader, Optimus Prime." The teenager motioned to each in turn. "And then there are the humans they've befriended -- Jack, Miko, Raf, and myself, Matt."

"It is an honor to meet those who might consider us allies," Kaldur stated, taking a step forward. "I am Kaldurann. The humans on the surface of this world call me Aqualad."

"You don't live on the surface of the planet?" Arcee looked at the deeply tanned teen in surprise.

"No. My home is in Atlantis, below the water's surface."

Raf gave Maria a look, and she said, "The Atlantis I went to was on a different world. I haven't set one metallic foot in Aquaman's kingdom."

Kaldur gave her a curious look. "Another Atlantis?"

"Another world's version, yes. I got my power core there." A slight frown came over Maria's face. "Maybe I can--"

A shimmer appeared in the air in front of her, and a shimmering picture appeared there: a bright blue, crystalline prism that was tapped with a pyramid on one end and encased in a bit of pottery on the other. The pottery end was also threaded through with a string of leather.

Maria blinked in surprise, but then a smirk came over her face. "Now that's cool. Looks like I can make mirages now."

"What _is_ that?" Kid Flash spoke up in curiosity.

"A shard of an energy-made crystal," Maria explained. "I got this as a gift after I helped protect it and an entire city from a megalomaniac bounty hunter and his equally power-hungry partner." The mirage shimmered out of existence.

"So that's the mystical energy thing you told me and Robin about that night," Kid Flash noted.

"So, who're you, kid?" Bulkhead gave Kid Flash a curious look.

"I'm Kid Flash, but I used to be Impulse," the teen explained. He saw a strange look on Bulkhead's face. "Yeah. I took the name in his honor."

The Autobots exchanged curious looks, and Maria glanced about before looking at Matt nervously.

"Matt told me about that," Jack suddenly recalled. "Something about...the original fading out of existence?"

The members of the Team that were present either flinched visibly or turned their gaze to Matthew, peppering the teenager with glares.

"How'd you know something about that?" Connor asked, frowning. "We never told anyone _how_ he died."

"The only reason I know is because of a TV show that my sister was watching back home!" Matthew yelped, trying to ward off the glares. "Don't blame me for living in an alternate dimension!"

"There's a TV show for us where you come from?" M'gann asked in surprise, looking at Maria.

Maria nodded. "Yeah. _Young Justice_ \-- it didn't really go for all that long compared to other shows, but it got to be pretty popular while it was still airing. The last episode was actually when the Reach left their 'farewell gift'."

"If you can call it that," Blue Beetle muttered.

Nightwing gained a thoughtful expression. "Do you think you could show us a portion of it using that mirage ability of yours?"

A thoughtful look also crossed Maria's face. "Maybe. It'll take me a little bit to get it up, though." She closed her eyes and thought back to when she had watched the show at home. The blue-eyed Reploid had managed to catch the final episode the night Cartoon Network had showcased it, so it was simply a matter of finding the memory, editing out certain sections of commercial breaks, and....

Maria opened her eyes again and spread her arms out wide on either side of her. "Playback: Endgame. Arctic. Destruction of the final piece of Reach tech."

Instantly, a large, holographic screen appeared in front of her, showing the Arctic landscape. A large, red tornado was seen surrounding the base of a column of energy. Another, yellow blur appeared on the landscape.

 _::_ I may not be as fast as you guys _,_ but that doesn't mean that I can't help _!:: Three figures were soon revealed to be running in the tornado at a high speed: an adult in a red jumpsuit, a boy in a white and red jumpsuit, and a young man in Kid Flash's costume._

_The first two looked at Kid Flash and nodded, then suddenly sped up, leaving the red-haired boy in the dust._

_Soon, other figures arrived on the scene: Blue Beetle, among others._

_::_ They're doing it _!_ They're stopping the energy from affecting the magnetic field _!:: Obviously, the Blue Beetle in the hologram was delighted by this._

::I would not celebrate so soon, Jaime Reyes. The one you know as Kid Flash will cease in 16 seconds::

"Who is _that_?" Static asked, frowning.

"That is the Scarab," Maria replied in a strangely grim tone.

 _Hologram BB frowned. ::_ What do you mean _,'_ cease _'?::_

::He runs at a slower rate than the others, providing a way for the energy to escape::

_In the tornado, Kid Flash was hit in the back by an escaping amount of energy, causing him to cry out, his form flickering._

::He will not last::

_The adult speedster, seeing what was happening to Kid Flash, called out, ::Impulse! We have to slow down to siphon some of the energy away from Wally!::_

_::Uncle, there's nothing you can do:: Kid Flash called back, his form flickering even faster. ::Tell Artemis I love--::_

_The boy was suddenly cut off as he suddenly faded from existence. At the same time, the column of energy suddenly dissipated in a flash of bright blue energy, and the other two stopped, panting heavily from energy exertion._

It was here that Maria stopped the hologram, allowing it to fade out. "That's as far as I'm going to go without revealing anything about the lives you guys lead beyond the masks."

"You've revealed a couple things already, anyway," Nightwing growled.

"You mean the names," Arcee noted.

"What's with that, anyway?" Bulkhead gave them curious looks.

"Anything other than those names we use as a part of the Justice League would be considered our...secret identities," Martian Manhunter explained. "Any connections made by those who we fight against can be used against us."

"I understand," Optimus stated. "A disguise to protect those who are close to you."

"Like your alt-modes," Raf stated, looking up at the yellow-and-black mech near him.

Bumblebee nodded in agreement, letting out a couple beeps of agreement with his human charge.

"You mean you can transform into vehicles?" M'gann asked. She still sounded at least somewhat nervous, but not as much as when she had initially arrived.

As if in answer, Bumblebee transformed into his muscle car vehicle mode, causing the Martian to jump in surprise, then transformed back into his robotic form.

Maria's eyes sparked with amusement as she chuckled at M'gann's reaction. "Bee blends in pretty well with everything in the outside world, don't you think?"

"He's a pretty cool car," Connor noted. "Name suits him." He looked up at the Autobots. "I'm Superboy. Miss Martian over there is my girlfriend."

M'gann smiled at Connor's statement, then nodded to confirm it. "My uncle and I came from Mars to help out here on Earth."

"We're not the only ones from off-world too, huh?" Bulkhead looked the two figures over. "Well, that explains the green skin."

"KF up there isn't from around here, either," Maria stated. "He actually came from a bad future."

Mentioned teenager sent a glare in the blue-eyed Reploid's direction. "Spoiler," he muttered.

Optimus gave Kid Flash a curious look. "A time traveler?"

Kid Flash turned his attention to the large Autobot and nodded. "Yup. I came back to make sure the Reach didn't take over."

Blue Beetle flinched a little at this. "Yeah. I owe my life to him for that."

Ratchet looked the teen over. Maria wondered if he was preparing to scan the blue-armored teen. "Something happened to you, according to want we've heard. Some sort of...mind control, I'm guessing?"

"You hit the nail on the head," Blue Beetle replied grimly. "Maria already mentioned it through that hologram of hers, but...." He closed his eyes, and the armor suddenly retracted, revealing a black-haired boy in jeans, a gray jacket, and a blue-gray shirt. Opening his eyes, revealing blue irises, he stated, "Name's Jaime Reyes. I'm also the Blue Beetle. If any of you guys hear me talking to someone who isn't technically here, it's the Scarab that's stuck in my back." He partially removed his shirt, revealing the piece of Reach tech as proof. "The Reach tried to use me, but Kid Flash and the others managed to get to me before any real damage could be done."

_ "Now, we are free of any burdens the Reach might try to throw at us." _

Optimus' optics narrowed slightly, allowing Maria to guess that he had probably heard the Scarab's voice. "Who was the 'Wally' mentioned? The first Kid Flash?"

Matthew nodded as Jamie reactivated his armor. "Wally West, one of the original members of the Team. If he were here, he'd probably freak upon meeting you guys."

"Freak how?" Ratchet asked.

"He'd go into full science mode -- ask you guys questions about your home planet, how your systems work, that sort of thing."

"In other words, he'd do what Miko did when she first met you guys," Maria stated. Another thought crossed her mind, and she frowned slightly. "You know, though, there might be a possibility that he's still alive."

Everyone stared at the Reploid in surprise.

"All right...what inter-dimensional theory do you have cooking up this time?" Matthew asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Anyone here heard of the Speed Force?" Maria gave Kid Flash a curious look.

The time traveler frowned, cocking his head slightly. "It's...familiar. I think my dad mentioned something about that. Like...a place where speedsters go?"

Maria nodded. "If you go at your fastest speed, you'll be able to enter it -- I think it's seven miles a second or so. If the energy from the Reach tech affected Wally in the way I'm guessing, he could be there."

"But how are we to get him back?" Kaldur inquired.

"That is a very good question....." Maria scratched her head as she closed one eye and gained a look of annoyance. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure. The only recorded event involving such a possibility had a speedster returning from the Speed Force after a crazed, evil version of Superboy managed to get himself out of there himself. And that was after three speedsters went in with the crazed kid, but only one came back." She shrugged. "I'm not sure as to how it'll work in this realm."

"Your insight could still prove useful," Martian Manhunter noted.

"And you still have to introduce yourself," Ratchet responded.

"My name is J'onn J'onzz," the Martian stated. "The humans outside of this base and the Justice League know me as Martian Manhunter."

"W-wait a sec," Jack spoke up. "You're pretty much revealing your hidden identity, aren't you?"

"The Autobots trust you in order to keep them secret. I find no reason to test that trust." J'onn gave the other team members a meaningful look, causing the teens to look at each other.

Kid Flash seemed to get the gist of what the Martian was suggesting, and he tore off his hood, revealing his face. "Name's Bart Allen."

Static and Gear exchanged glances, before removing their masks (or helmet, in Gear's case).

While Gear was putting on a pair of glasses, Static stated, "I'm Virgil, and Gear's my best bud, Richie."

"Virgil?" Miko looked dubious. "Really?"

Virgil shrugged. "At least it isn't as bad as Francis."

Maria snorted. "You've got that right. I wonder what his mother was thinking when she named him that."

Connor exchanged looks with M'gann, who nodded slightly.

"You guys can call me Connor," Connor stated. Maria mentally noted that he had left off his adoptive last name of Kent as he continued, "And Miss Martian's M'gann, or Megan."

Nightwing gave the group a cold look, then shook his head and let out a sigh. "Batman's probably going to kill us for doing this. Especially in front of them." He motioned to Jack, Raf, Matt and Miko.

"If you want us to, we can drag Miko and the others out of here," Maria suggested. "My brother already knows, anyway."

Miko gave Matt a pleading look. "Can you tell us who Nightwing is? Please?"

Matt snorted. "Like that's going to happen. It's his secret, not mine."

"If he chooses against revealing who he is, we must not force it out if him," Optimus stated. "It is his choice."

Maria nodded in agreement as Miko sagged in disappointment.

"So, those Decepticon guys." Connor got everyone's attention. "They're Cybertronians that went bad, right?"

"Correct, Connor," Optimus replied. "The Decepticons have made it their goal to destroy all organic life -- as well as the Autobots. Their leader, Megatron, has made it a point to attempt to offline me every time we meet."

"Offline?" Gear repeated. He swallowed. "You don't mean... _kill_ , do you?"

"That is the word that you organics use to equate to our definition, yes," Ratchet replied grimly.

A loud beeping suddenly came from Nightwing's left arm, and he looked over at it. "This is Nightwing."

:: _Nightwing, get your team back here now. Luthor made a deal with the Joker again and it doesn't look like he's the only one::_

Nightwing nodded. "Right. We'll be right there."

Miko's eyes widened. "Was that...Batman?"

Maria smirked. "Maybe." She looked up at Optimus. "Looks like we've gotta go." The Reploid looked over at Nightwing. "Do you want them to Ground Bridge us to Gotham?"

"Seems like our only option." Nightwing looked up at Ratchet. "I can give you the coordinates for Gotham."

The red and white medic gave a nod. "Good." He started for the elevator, and the large collection of humans, two Martians, and one Kryptonian followed after him. "This Batman of whom Miko and Maria have spoken of...is he a member of the Justice League?"

"Most heroes are," Maria stated calmly.

"And yes, he is," Nightwing added. "Batman is one of the founding members, whether he shows himself to the public or not."

"Or whether he's well-liked or not," Matt muttered as the elevator started to rise.

"Speaking of you two...." Connor turned to look at Matthew and Maria. "How much do you two know about us?"

"And do you know anything about the Autobots that we don't?" Jack added.

"While my knowledge of the Justice League is pretty decent compared to others...." Maria shrugged. "I only just came across information on the Autobots and Decepticons recently, and even then information is kind of spotty. We don't _have_ information on you guys on our home world. The only reason I know anything is because I accessed a collection of fan-made stories on another world -- and even then, a lot of the information blacked out for one reason or another."

"Really?" Raf frowned. "Well, that's strange...."

"And you do not have any heroes or villains on your world," Kaldur stated.

Maria shook her head. "We would have heard something about vigilantes popping up by now. And we haven't."

"Besides, we have comics and TV shows from both Marvel and DC, which are the main two factions in that sort of thing," Matt added. "Life is pretty peaceful in our neighborhood."

"Peaceful being a relative word, considering how we disappear to other worlds pretty often," Maria noted.

The elevator came to a stop, and the group stepped out onto the ground floor. Ratchet walked over to the computer station next to the Ground Bridge tunnel and started typing. Nightwing ran over to the computer and fired off a grappling hook startling Ratchet when the head embedded itself in the wall and Nightwing came up and landed on the computer itself.

Ratchet's optics narrowed slightly, considering the straight face that Nightwing was keeping. "How often do you do that?"

"Every night." Nightwing motioned to the map of the US that had been brought up on one of the computer screens. "Gotham is on the east coast. It's the southern half of New York."

Maria's ears twitched. "Southern half of New York? I thought it was its own city."

"Maybe with the information you've been given, it is, but not here." Nightwing jumped off the computer and Ratchet pulled on a lever, firing up the Ground Bridge.

"I guess with alternate realities, you can never really tell." Maria turned to look at her year-older brother. "I guess I'll be seeing you later, bro."

"You wanted to see these guys, didn't you?" Matt asked, motioning to Ratchet. "Why don't you stick around?"

"Batman considers me a part of the Team. I've got to stick with them, not around here. I'll pop back in once in a while to check on your progress." The Reploid gave Matt a wave and ran for the Ground Bridge, being the last one to disappear into the vortex.


	17. Chapter 17

Maria awoke when her systems alerted her with a loud beeping from her connection to a local TV news station. Sitting up, she tapped her left ear in order to hear the transmission.

::-- _Earthquakes happening at once across the world have baffled scientists and weathermen alike. Many have claimed that the Weather Wizard is up to his old tricks, but the earthquakes seem to have no epicenters, but some geologists claim that they might originate in the center of our planet--::_

Maria cut the transmission short, eyes wide. "Chaos and Master Emeralds, what is going on out there?" She scrambled out of bed and dashed out of her quarters.

Over the past few weeks, things were surprisingly quiet on Maria's end of things after taking care of Luthor's botched deal with the Joker -- which, oddly enough, seemed to follow some of the events in a certain Lego video game her family had obtained after the Smash Worlds Tournament. The Decepticons had moved some time ago, but Maria had heard about that only because Matt and Ratchet had contacted her in order to see if they could figure out what the Decepticons were up to.

As the blue-eyed Reploid had learned from the medic and her brother, the Cons had been planning on building a Space Bridge.

When Maria had arrived in the op center -- which was where all the computers were located -- she found Batman and a black-haired woman in a red, white, blue, and gold outfit going over data. It seemed to the Reploid that, thanks to Batman's connections, they had no end to equipment that could alert them when something was wrong.

"I heard about the earthquakes," Maria stated, skipping over her usual I-just-got-up-from-my-recharge-and-want-to-say-hi greeting. "Has anything else popped up since then?"

"Storms have been gaining strength across the globe," Batman replied without bothering to look over at the Reploid. "And then there's this." A "satellite's eye view" photo was shown of a volcano spewing out a dark purple, lava-like substance. "According to our sensors, the eruption started almost at the same time as the earthquakes, and it seems to be releasing an energy signature similar to Energon, but corrupted."

"Which shouldn't be possible." Wonder Woman motioned to the data. "Everything seems to point to something that might have burrowed under the earth's crust. A Reach fail safe, maybe?"

Maria frowned as she thought back to the Young Justice TV show, then shook her head. "There's no way that it's a Reach fail safe -- the electro-magnetic disrupter thingies was their fail safe."

Batman looked over at Maria. "You know something."

Maria shot the Dark Knight a surprised look. "No, I don't! I haven't heard anything about this in either your comics or anybody else's! I'm just plain flabbergasted!"

A loud beeping noise suddenly came from the computer system and the data disappeared in a green flash, being replaced by a red, face-like symbol that pulsed for a few minutes before another green flash replaced it, allowing for two familiar figures to appear.

 _::Batman, Wonder Woman, Flare-Up::_ Ratchet stated, nodding to each in turn. _::I suppose you have already seen the news reports?::_

"Yes," Batman replied grimly. "What have you found out?"

 _::Nothing good::_ came the other figure's reply. Matthew--who was standing on Ratchet's shoulder--had a strangely grim look on his face that made Maria frown slightly.

"What is it?" Maria asked, her blue eyes darkening as she frowned. "It's not another one of Lex's schemes, is it?"

 _::No. It's_ worse _than anything that he's ever managed to dish out::_ Matthew ran a hand through his brown hair, sending it up in spikes. It looked ragged enough that Maria suspected that her brother had probably gone without sleep the night before. _::There's this old Cybertronian prophecy that Ratchet and the others told me about a few days back. What was it again, Ratchet?::_

 _::And it was written in the Covenant of Primus that when the 47 spheres align, a perpetual conflict will culminate upon a world forged from chaos::_ the medic recited grimly. _::And the weak shall perish in the shadow of a rising darkness::_

 _*No.....*_ Inferno murmured in fear.

 _Do you know something about this?_ Maria asked mentally, frowning slightly.

_*I know the prophecy, but as for what's going on, I'm as much in the dark as you are*_

Maria sighed, then shook her head. "That sounds like a doom prophecy if I've ever heard one."

"You don't recognize it?" Wonder Woman asked.

The blue-eyed Reploid shook her head again. "Just that it's probably bad news."

 _::It is::_ Ratchet replied grimly. _::Originally, we had thought that the planet that was going to be affected was Cybertron. Now, we know for certain that the planet spoken of in the prophecy is Earth::_

 _::Even stranger is that these exact same events happened on_ our _world when you were gone during Spring Break::_ Matthew added.

**Maria's POV**

Wait a second! Matthew said _what?!_

"This happened on _our_ world?!" I repeated in shock.

Matthew nodded. _::Yeah. Our area was hit with a power outage because of electro-magnetic disruptions that people claimed were because of the alignment. And it gets worse from there. Those earthquakes that are being talked about? The ones that happened at once?::_

I was starting to get that "bad feeling" in my gut, like someone was twisting the cables there a little too tightly. "What about them?"

 _::When you combine the tremors together into one frequency, it sounds like this::_ Ratchet pressed a few keys, and the screen split in half: one side still showed Ratchet and Matthew, but the other side showed a green screen with a pulse continuously going across it, causing a familiar sound to resonate.

"That sounds like a heartbeat," Wonder Woman noted, frowning.

"But not a human one," Batman continued.

Ratchet nodded gravely. _::This is a Spark signature -- I suppose you might call it a "Sparkbeat". There is a Cybertronian within this planet...and it is possible that the Cybertronian is Unicron::_

"Unicron...." I repeated, rolling the name around in her mouth. Something about that name sent a few shivers down my spine, but I didn't know if that was me or Inferno somehow managing to react in real time like she did to Breakdown's picture.

"How dangerous is this Unicron?" Wonder Woman asked.

"And how can we get him out of our planet?" Batman added.

 _::Unicron is a source of ancient evil that was said to have been destroyed long ago::_ Ratchet replied grimly. _::It seems that your planet formed_ around _him, so removing him would be impossible. It would destroy your world entirely::_

 _::Besides, according to other things that the Bots have told us, he's the source of all the Dark Energon that's coming out of that volcano::_ Matthew added. _::If any of us were going to go into the planet, none of us might come back out::_

Unicron is the source...? Well, considering that he's a "source of ancient evil," that would definitely explain where Lex Luthor's Dark Energon mine came from.

And the not coming back out bit...Nightwing _did_ say that Kid Flash was looking a bit sick. Maybe he has heightened sensitivity to the Crystal stuff?

"So, what now?" I finally asked. "I don't want to sit around and wait for the world to end, that's for sure."

 _::Optimus has gone out to inspect the epicenters of the tremors::_ Ratchet replied. _::We are unsure as of yet how to move further with the situation::_

"OK...."

 _*We have to get over there*_ Inferno stated. I agreed with her -- which doesn't happen often enough, but still does when she decided to speak up.

"Can you get a Ground Bridge to my coordinates?" I asked.

:: _I believe so. But--::_

"No buts, Ratchet. And Batman and Wonder Woman are coming along, too."

Ratchet's optics narrowed. :: _Very well::_ The connection was cut, and a moment later, a swirling Ground Bridge appeared behind them.

"Come on." I started to walk towards the portal. "You guys have yet to meet the Autobots officially, anyway."

I stepped through the Ground Bridge, smiling at the tickling sensation as I was instantly teleported to the Autobot base. My smile disappeared, however, as soon as I stepped into the ex-missile silo.

"Are you sure that bringing two of the Justice League in will be a good idea?" Matt asked, eyeing the Ground Bridge from his perch.

"They're two of the founding members -- and one of them is Nightwing's mentor," I responded. "I don't see a reason why they can't meet the Bots."

Right on cue, Batman stormed through the Ground Bridge, his cape billowing out behind him as Wonder Woman followed.

"All right. What is Unicron doing in the Earth's core?" Batman demanded darkly.

Okay, getting right to the point. That might be a good idea, considering the situation.

"It is not what Unicron is doing _in_ Earth's core, but rather what he is doing _as_ Earth's core," Ratchet corrected. "It seems that his gravitational field managed to gather together planetoids and fuse them together to form your planet, locking him inside."

"And he's doing what now?" Wonder Woman asked. "Waking up?"

"That seems to be the case," the medic replied grimly.

"So, if this giant...original Decepticon wakes up...." I swallowed nervously. "It's...good-bye planet."

If this _exact same thing_ happened on my world, then Unicron didn't succeed in waking up...right?

"And the Dark Energon pouring out of the earth is the result of that," Wonder Woman noted.

"Correct," Ratchet responded. "It's likely that was the Dark Energon came flowing out of a cable that had been severed during his fight with the original Thirteen Primes."

" _Thirteen_ Primes?" Did I hear that right?

"I thought that there was only one at a time." I scratched my head in confusion.

"That is an ancient tale," Ratchet replied. "There were Thirteen Primes once--the first Cybertronians that were created by Primus, the creator of all of Cybertron, and the eternal enemy of Unicron. Primus and Unicron have been in constant struggle since the beginning of time, with Primus constantly creating...and Unicron destroying everything he touched. The only act that allowed their war to end was the creation of the Thirteen Primes...and our home world of Cybertron, with Primus' spark at its core."

...Whoa. Primus lost his mobility as a result of creating the original Thirteen Cybertronians? That's...quite the sacrifice.

 _*Some claim that Primus can still transform into his original mode, but only as a last resort*_ Inferno spoke up suddenly.

Since when was she such a history buff? All I've known her for is comments on fighting and stuff.

Batman's eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked around the room, catching sight of Jack, Miko, Raf, Fowler, and June up by the recreation platform. "Where are the others? Flare-Up said there were more of you."

"They're downstairs, making sure that they're in top condition for whenever they fight Unicron -- if they have to," Matt stated from his perch. When Batman and Wonder Woman looked in his direction, he gave a short wave. "I'm Maria's brother, Matt. It's an honor to finally meet you two in person, Batman, Wonder Woman."

"You're the boy Nightwing mentioned," Wonder Woman noted. "The one who he spent so much time training."

"I've still got a couple bruises from that, but I'm grateful for the training I got." Matt smiled sheepishly. "I'm still working on my techniques, but it's going to take a while to get up to Nightwing's level."

"I should think so," I remarked, grinning. "Say, how about we go down for a while and I see how you've been doing with your Aura ability?"

"Sure, why not?"

Matt and I went over to the elevator and would have nearly made it were it not for the fact that the sudden sound of the Ground Bridge powering up caused us to turn and look back. I blinked in confusion when Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead dashed through the Ground Bridge and disappeared from sight.

"Okay...did I just miss something?" I asked, frowning in confusion. "I'm pretty sure that my hearing isn't _that_ bad."

"Optimus ran into some trouble," Ratchet explained grimly.

"The Decepticons? Or...is it that Unicron demon?"

"The latter goes without saying." Ratchet motioned to the now powered-down Ground Bridge. "Arcee and the others just went through to assist him."

Oh, boy. This doesn't sound good. If Unicron is able to attack Optimus without tearing the planet apart...this guy is _powerful._

:: _Did Ratchet not relay my command? Return to base!::_

Ratchet turned to face the computers at the sound of Optimus' rather annoyed tone. Optimus wants to face Unicron _alone?_ It feels like there's something else going on....

**_::Reinforcements will only delay your destruction, Disciple of Primus::_ **

What the--! Who _is_ that? It sounds like there's multiple voices that are also one person speaking over himself. And the tone of that voice...."Disciple of Primus"....that can only mean one thing....

"That's Unicron, isn't it," I deadpanned.

 _::Unicron is looking for you, Optimus::_ Arcee suddenly spoke up. _::Maybe_ you _should consider returning to base::_

Yup. That voice was Unicron, all right. He sounds like the kind of guy who I would hate to face in a dark alley...I wonder what's going on out there....

 _::Unicron's manifestations can locate me anywhere on Earth::_ Optimus replied grimly. _::Our base's cloaking would only shield me for so long::_

 _::Then let us take the lead -- just this once!::_ Bulkhead let out a grunt as he hit what sounded like a rock.

"Listen to reason, Optimus!" Ratchet exclaimed. "If you do not survive, I fear this planet will not, either!"

:: _...Very well::_ The communication was suddenly cut off.

"I wish we could see what's going on out there," I muttered. "And I wish that I could help!"

"And what do you expect to do, Maria?" Wonder Woman suddenly asked. I looked over in the direction of her voice and found that she and Batman were standing next to the computers.

The question was sudden enough that it kind of threw me for a loop for a moment.

"Well...I'm not exactly sure off the top of my head...but I want to be able to help in any way I can," I admitted. "So what if I'm an ant compared to the rest of them? I can hold my own."

"That may be, but that doesn't mean you can help Optimus right at this instant," Ratchet replied. "I'm certain that with the others, he will be fine. They've fought enemies and defeated them before."

:: _Ratchet?::_ Arcee suddenly spoke in a questioning manner.

"What is it? What happened?" Ratchet turned to look at the computers again and went over the monitors.

:: _I happened!::_ came a new voice. Those two words, for some reason, sent shivers down my spine and caused my gears to freeze. The voice clearly sounded like one of those villains you hear in the cartoons I always watch, but there was more...malice in his tone. Like he was grinning wickedly or something.

 _::Megatron!::_ Bulkhead didn't sound too pleased.

So that's Megatron's voice?

"King Con's there, too?" Miko got up off the couch and came over to the railing, curious.

"It seems likely that he has allied himself with Unicron," Ratchet noted grimly.

Uh oh...Decepticon with embodied evil? That's never a good thing. If any villain has done that before...it usually ends in a _bad_ double-crossing situation--usually with the villain losing.

:: _Actually, he just saved Optimus' tailpipe::_ Arcee sounded just as surprised as she was suspicious.

"Who is this Megatron?" Batman asked.

"He's the leader of the Decepticons," Jack explained, eyeing Batman with a somewhat nervous expression. "Usually with him, though, it's shoot first, ask questions later."

:: _It is rather ironic, considering our last encounter::_ I made a mental note of the oddly silky-sounding voice of the Decepticon--I honestly wasn't expecting that the leader of the bad guys could sound so calm despite the fact that he was probably pretty violent, too. :: _If memory serves, you were desperately attempting to extinguish my Spark::_

 _::That option remains very much in play::_ came Optimus' curt reply.

Whoa. Since when did _that_ happen? It must have taken place when I was with the Justice League this past week....

There was a chuckle from the Decepticon. :: _I would expect nothing less::_ The "s" came out in a hiss. :: _However, I have a proposal. Join me in defeating our shared enemy: Unicron, the Chaos Bringer!::_

Ratchet let out a short laugh. "Absurd! Unicron is evil incarnate! If Megatron was to take any side, why would it be ours?"

"Why indeed?" Batman muttered.

:: _Because Megatron's pride would not allow anyone other than himself to rule this planet::_ Optimus noted.

:: _You know me all too well, Optimus!::_

 _::You lead an army of Cons. Why come to us?::_ Bulkhead was suspicious.

"An army?" Wonder Woman repeated, frowning.

"He's got a lot of cannon fodder to go around," Miko stated dryly.

:: _Because this particular endeavor requires something beyond my realm of command: the power of a Prime!::_

Say what? I didn't think a brute like that could use big words.

Bulkhead let out a snort of amusement. :: _Then I guess we don't need you::_

_::On the contrary, Optimus may be the only one who can defeat Unicron, but I am the only one who can guide you to him::_

"What makes him say that?" Matt asked, frowning.

"He's got Dark Energon in his system," Jack explained. "Of course he'd be able to. The Con's probably been sneaking peaks into Unicron's head for all we know."

Raf gave a shudder upon hearing that, and I gave the computer geek a look of concern. I wonder what may have happened to him that for him to react like that....

:: _Unicron's lifeblood runs through me. Only I can hear his thoughts, anticipate his movements::_

"There; see?"

:: _Optimus, our past alliances, Autobot -- Decepticon -- no longer matter. Not while Unicron still lives::_

Ratchet slammed his fist into the computer's dash in front of him. "The past always matters!"

:: _A truce between Autobots and Decepticons::_ Optimus stated grimly. _::How long do you expect us to believe that will last?::_

"Five hours, tops," Matt stated. Everyone looked over at him. "What? I'm just guessing."

"This isn't something to guess about," Ratchet growled at my brother.

:: _Only as long as is mutually beneficial::_

:: _And, when our proposed "shared mission" is declared complete?::_

:: _I will conquer this Earth -- my way::_

 _::Brutal honesty from a Decepticon?::_ Arcee seemed skeptical.

"Aligning with the lesser of two evils is still siding with evil," Ratchet muttered, optics narrow.

"I don't think we have too much of a choice," Wonder Woman suddenly spoke up. "We have had to deal with alliances like this in the past -- and no one's liked it."

:: _Do you think you've witnessed the full power of Unicron? Those foot soldiers were nothing more than a taste. Unicron has yet to fully awaken! With each passing moment, the Chaos Bringer evolves, mutating the Earth from the inside out. What we have witnessed until now is but a prelude to the utter devastation his awakening will reek upon your world::_

Matt and the rest of us exchanged nervous glances as Megatron spoke.

:: _Like your mad quest for power destroyed Cybertron?::_ Arcee demanded.

:: _Make no mistake! This time there_ will _be a planet left for me to rule!::_

 _::Even if we agree, Unicron's all the way down at the center of the Earth! How're we supposed to get there? Drive?::_ Bulkhead was making a very sarcastic comment.

Despite Bulkhead's snarky statement, he was right. The center of the world is kinda hard to reach by regular means....

:: _There is only one way::_

Ratchet's optics widened upon hearing Optimus' tone of voice. "Absolutely not! Ground Bridging into space or onto moving trains is difficult enough! But plotting a _blind jump inside a sentient being?!_ Besides, exposure to that much Dark Energon will debilitate you. You haven't built up an immunity like Megatron has."

Oh, boy. This is getting to be freaky. We have a being that runs on poison, and our entire planet is filled with this nasty stuff?

:: _Yet another strong argument for soliciting my guidance::_ Megatron purred.

Okay, since when was this guy ever such a good public speaker?

:: _You can provide Unicron's exact coordinates?::_ Optimus asked.

_::If you transport us directly into the planet's core, I can lead you directly into Unicron's Spark. The very heart of his darkness!::_

_::Optimus, even if we survive the jump, how are we supposed to stop Unicron?::_ Arcee asked.

The was a pause before Optimus replied, :: _With the Matrix of Leadership::_

I gave a frown of confusion. "The what?"

"The Matrix of Leadership is a vessel of pure energy," Ratchet explained. "The collective wisdom of the Primes."

"Do we even _have_ the Matrix?" Jack spoke up. "Or the time for a scavenger hunt?"

"We do not need to look for it. Optimus carries it within him," Ratchet explained, tapping her chest.

:: _It was the combined power of the Primes that defeated Unicron so long ago::_ Megatron stated. I can't help but picture that giant Con grinning when he's saying this. _::The very reason he now seeks to destroy you!::_

 _::It would follow that unleashing the energy of the Matrix directly into Unicron's Spark would return him to stasis::_ Optimus admitted.

"Hold on." Everyone in the base turned to look at Miko. "If everything goes right, Unicron's gonna _stay_ down there?"

"Can't we...siphon him out?" Jack suggested. "He sounds like something we don't want to leave down there."

"We can't," Raf replied grimly. "Unicron _is_ the Earth's core. Getting him out could cause the storms and other things that the Autobots are trying to _prevent._ "

"Tragically, Unicron is your very planet's seed," Ratchet agreed. "Always has been, and always must be."

Oi, vey. These people are going to have it hard, living on a planet made out of a demon. Come to think of it...my planet's got the demon in it, too!

There was the sound of rumblings on the other end of the comm-link.

:: _We've got another one!::_ Bulkhead warned.

:: _Ratchet, send a Ground Bridge::_ Optimus ordered.

Ratchet moved quickly, locking onto the Autobots' coordinates and opening up the Ground Bridge with little effort.

:: _Wait. We're opening up a direct path into our base with Megatron standing right there?::_ Arcee demanded.

:: _And seriously, he's going to risk his own Spark to save us?::_ Bulkhead sounded skeptical.

Megatron let out a laugh. :: _Hardly my nature!::_ There was a pause before he continued, :: _Consider my offer. I shall keep it busy::_ A noise of some sort was heard on the other end, followed by the sound of jet thrusters. Not but a few minutes later, the Autobots came through the Ground Bridge, Optimus being the last.

"This is going to be an odd turn of events," I remarked. "What are we going to do, Optimus?" I gave the Autobot leader a curious look.

Optimus looked down at her for a moment, then his gaze went over Wonder Woman and Batman, who didn't seem to be too surprised at seeing a Cybertronian of his size. "We will have to take Megatron up on his offer. Which means that he will have to come here."

Ratchet's optics widened."I know that desperate times call for desperate measures, but bringing Megatron _here_?!"

"How can you think of letting that monster anywhere near these children after what he did to Raf?" Mrs. Darby demanded.

Wonder Woman gave Raf a curious look, and the boy stated quietly, "I almost died of a Dark Energon infection from a shot Megatron fired."

Hang on a sec -- Raf almost _died?!_ More importantly, how did Megatron manage to fire a Dark Energon shot?

Wait a sec...Ratchet said that Megatron had built up an immunity to the stuff. Does that mean...that he _uses_ it? Like a drug?

"He will be closely monitored, and only be allowed to linger long enough to send us on our journey," Optimus stated, optics narrow. "Not one moment more."

"What's going to stop the Con from calling in an air strike if he knows where you live?" Fowler countered.

"By Ground Bridging Megatron here, he will be unable to get a fix on our coordinates," the Autobot leader replied.

Whoa, really? That's pretty cool.

"Optimus."

We all turned to look at Jack.

"What's going to happen to you when all of your Matrix energy gets released?" the teen asked.

Optimus paused for a moment, his optics scanning the room before he looked back at Jack.

"The power of the Matrix has not been previously utilized in this particular manner," the Autobot leader stated carefully.

"But...you have an idea, don't you?" Jack insisted.

If he's willing to take the chance and use it in this way...then I think he probably does.

"Autobots, if humankind is to be saved, I have no choice but to proceed." Optimus looked over at Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead. "But you do."

Eh? He didn't answer Jack's question! What's going through that metal head of his?

The Autobots looked at each other, then looked in different directions -- to where the humans were located.

"Well, I don't know about humankind, but I'm willing to do it for Miko," Bulkhead stated.

"For Jack," Arcee added.

Bumblebee added a whirring noise which anyone who knew him could have clearly translated as, "For Raf."

"Megatron, we are sending transport," Optimus suddenly stated, looking at no one in particular.

:: _You can always be relied upon to listen to reason, Optimus::_ Megatron's voice hissed over the loudspeaker, and I couldn't help but flinch a little out of surprise--I mean, since when does someone give their enemy a way to contact them?

Ratchet moved over to the Ground Bridge controls and typed in something before pulling on the lever that activated the portal system. Then he turned and looked down at the rest of us.

"You humans should stay out of sight," the medic told us. He motioned over to a shadowy corner of the area.

Jack, Raf, and Matt started to move over there, followed closely by Agent Fowler and Mrs. Darby. Miko, Batman, Wonder Woman, and I, however, were not so inclined to move. I hadn't seen Megatron face-to-face yet (and I am NOT counting the picture that Ratchet showed us), and I was willing to take the chance of being blasted and actually see this guy. Batman and Wonder Woman probably had the same reasons.

Ratchet walked over and plucked Miko up from where she was standing with her arms crossed, producing a noise of protest from the black-and-pink-haired girl. Then the medic set her on the floor and started to push her towards the others.

"But I haven't seen him yet!" Miko complained as she was pushed over to the others. "Why do we have to hide?"

"Because I said so," Ratchet replied adamantly. He looked over in my direction. "And that goes for you as well, Maria."

Well, there's a surprise. "Me? Why?" Upon seeing Ratchet open his mouth again, I added quickly, "And don't give the same answer that you gave Miko."

"I was _going_ to say that Megatron doesn't know of our interactions with the Justice League, and thereby with you." Ratchet gave Batman, Wonder Woman, and I a scowling expression. "So get moving."

Well, the medic did have a point.

"All right, all right, I'll go." I held up my hands in surrender, then made my way over to the area that the others were standing in. Batman and Wonder Woman actually followed after me, and the three of us disappeared around a corner just as I heard metallic footsteps coming from the direction of the Ground Bridge.

Curious, I turned around and peeked out from behind the corner in order to see what was going on.

An exact replica of the image Ratchet had showed us was walking into the base, and he was just plain _huge._ I mean, this guy was obviously taller than Optimus was! But what freaked me out was the color of his optics--instead of red, like they had been in the image Ratchet had pulled up, they were purple.

"That is a Decepticon?" Wonder Woman asked from behind me.

"The biggest and baddest of the bunch," I confirmed grimly. "What's freaking me out right now a little, though is that his optics are purple instead of blood red. Dark Energon is only that deep a purple, and it worries me to see Megatron have his eyes the same color."

"Unicron could be working though him," Wonder Woman noted.

"We don't know for sure right now, though."

"So, this is where the magic happens," Megatron noted, looking around. "Quaint."

Something told me that he was being sarcastic. I never really thought that robots _could_ be sarcastic, but if they come from a planet of their very own without any one creator except for their own planet, I don't see why they can't be.

Here suddenly came the sound of someone walking up behind me, and I turned to look back. Seconds later, to my surprise, Raf dashed out from behind our corner and started towards Megatron.

"Raf!" Jack exclaimed.

"Raphael, no!" Mrs. Darby called out. She, her son, Fowler, and Miko followed after him. It looks like Matthew was about to follow, too, but he came to a stop and simply stood next to me instead, watching the group that had dashed out so recklessly.

Raf was suddenly pulled to a stop when Jack grabbed his shoulders from behind.

"You," he growled, glaring up at Megatron.

"Ah." Megatron turned, prompting Arcee to move between the Decepticon and the humans. "You're looking much better than the last time we met, little one." He gave Optimus a sly look. "Humans. Resilient."

I flinched at Megatron's comment. "'Little one' is a term of endearment, not a statement because of his size," I muttered. "He's really laying on the sarcasm right now, isn't he?"

"Come on, Raf. He isn't worth it," Jack said, turning Raf around and pushing him back toward our hiding place.

"And you."

Jack paused at the sound of Megatron's voice.

"I never forget a face, even that of a human," the Decepticon leader stated in a low growl.

Say _what?_ Megatron and Jack have met before? And Jack _survived?_

Jack turned to give Megatron a look, then walked off after Raf, his mother at his side.

"If you double cross us, my face is the one you won't forget! NEVER!" Miko yelled at the Decepticon. Fowler took advantage of her distraction and grabbed her from behind, then dragged her back to our hiding place.

I've got to say, she's got some pretty big guys for saying that. But...seeing as this is a giganto evil robot we're looking at....

"You probably shouldn't try to aggravate him like that," I remarked when Miko came back. "The blaster over there on his arm could easily vaporize you -- and he can still step on you if you somehow manage to avoid that--which I highly doubt."

"Like that's going to stop me," Miko responded boldly.

"Ratchet, obtain the destination coordinates from our... _guest_ ," Optimus stated, motioning to Megatron.

"Kind of stretching it a little, isn't he?" Matt asked.

"We invited him in, therefore, he is a guest, although reluctantly allowed in," I responded matter-of-factly.

I eyed Megatron suspiciously while Ratchet reluctantly showed the Con the controls of the Ground Bridge and watched him type the coordinates in. No one was going to take his presence lightly, but the Unicron crisis had to come first.

While the two of them were busy with the Ground Bridge controls, there came the sound of another set of footsteps; I turned my head and watched as Optimus walked right past us and moved over to where Jack was standing by himself.

"Jack."

The boy turned as Optimus got down on one knee to get to a more comfortable height for the human's sake. "Will you...keep something for me?"

Jack blinked in slight confusion. "Uh...yeah. Sure."

A strange piece of Cybertronian tech appeared in Optimus' servo, and as he handed it over to Jack, it changed shape and _shrunk_ , so that the human could hold it without too much trouble.

"What is it?" Jack asked, looking the object over.

"It is...the key to the Ground Bridge power supply."

And _why_ , exactly, did Optimus hesitate when he said that?

"Oh. Well, shouldn't you give this to Ratchet, then?"

"Perhaps. But I have been impressed by how much you have matured since we first met. As such, I feel you have earned the responsibility of safeguarding this important device...until I return."

"I won't let you down," Jack promised with a nod at the Autobot.

Optimus nodded, then got back up to his full height and turned to join the others just as the Ground Bridge was powered up.

"Locked and ready," Ratchet reported from where he stood by the controls.

The other Autobots then approached the Bridge -- which Megatron was standing next to.

"You first," Arcee stated, glaring up at the Decepticon leader.

Megatron gave a mock bow. "As you wish." His voice was clearly loaded with sarcasm, as it had been before when he had spoken.

The Decepticon then turned and calmly walked through the Ground Bridge, closely followed by the other Autobots. Optimus, before he went through, turned and sent one last look in our direction before stepping into the swirling green portal and disappearing.

As soon as Optimus had gone into the vortex, Ratchet shut down the Ground Bridge, leaving the rest of us standing alone in a now strangely quiet base.


	18. Chapter 18

"We should probably check on what's going on in the world outside," Maria noted as she stepped out from where she and the others had been hiding from Megatron's presence. "If the Justice League's out there without being able to contact us, then we still have to find out how bad it's getting out there."

Ratchet gave a slight nod of agreement, then turned and did something to one of the computer monitors. Seconds later, a human news channel was playing there. Maria quickly recognized it as a channel that she knew from her own world.

::... _more than 60 volcanoes are erupting worldwide, and downtown Honolulu is under six inches of_ snow _. Scientists continue to devise theories that connect these unprecedented natural disasters with the planetary alignment which --::_

And then the channel suddenly disconnected and turned into static.

"We should be out there doing damage control," Wonder Woman noted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"And I can't sit on my hands while the world spins out of control," Fowler agreed. "I'm going to go and try to talk with some of my boys at the Pentagon-- at least do _something!"_ He looked over at Ratchet. "Maybe even find a way to bury that monster for good."

"You mean in the event Optimus can't?" Ratchet's optics narrowed.

"You mean Optimus and _Megatron."_

"No one is thrilled with the situation, Agent Fowler," Maria stated, unknowingly mimicking Optimus' calm tone.

"Myself included," Ratchet agreed. "But with Optimus and Megatron together again--"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Matt gave the medic a look of surprise. "Did you just say _again?_ "

"Megatron was an Autobot?" Raf asked.

"Optimus was a Con?" Miko pressed.

"No, on either count," Ratchet replied. "But, there was a time, back on Cybertron, in the twilight hours of the Golden Age, when Optimus and Megatron were not sworn enemies." He looked over at the three human kids the Autobots had befriended. "Do you recall when I said that Optimus wasn't always a Prime?"

"Yeah -- you also said something about Optimus having to earn the title," Jack recalled.

"Which is what I will be explaining about. You see, he wasn't always Optimus, either. He was once a clerk in the Iacon Hall of Records, named Orion Pax."

"A historian?" Wonder Woman was surprised.

"Everybody has to start somewhere, I guess," Maria replied, shrugging. "Not everybody gets to be a hero of sorts from birth." She glanced over at Batman before looking back up at the medic, prompting the Autobot to continue.

"As he learned more about Cybertron's past, he grew increasingly concerned about the present corruption in high places, and inequality among the masses. Orion became inspired by the words and deeds of a gladiator -- one who had named himself after one of the Thirteen original Primes: Megatronus.

"Megatronus vowed to challenge Cybertron's leadership and demand that all Cybertonians be treated as equals. The gladiator turned revolutionary rapidly gained a loyal following -- Soundwave chief among them.

"Orion began corresponding with Megatronus, who came to be something of a mentor to him -- despite the fact that he already had a mentor in Alpha Trion, the head of the Hall of Records. As Megatronus left the gladiatorial arena for the political, he then saw fit to shorten his name."

"Megatron," Jack guessed.

Ratchet nodded. "Before long, Megatron appeared before the High Council, to propose his vision for a just society. And it was here that he began to reveal his true colors -- proclaiming the need to overthrow the old guard with force, and arrogantly demanding to be named the next Prime. But Orion did not believe in violence as a means of achieving justice."

"...That actually makes a lot of sense," Maria noted. "In an ancient language that is no longer spoken among humans, 'pax' means 'peace'." She smirked. "At the same time, Orion was considered an ancient hero in some mythologies."

"It seems both these aspects were a part of Orion's Spark," Ratchet stated, nodding. "His words moved the minds and Sparks of the High Council, and they found him worthy of being named the next Prime. But that honor could only be truly achieved by earning the legendary Matrix of Leadership.

"His ambitions thwarted, Megatron spitefully severed all ties with Orion and the High Council, and came to wage war on all who opposed him, through his growing army of followers, which he named Decepticons. He vowed to claim the Matrix for himself, wherever it might lie. In time, warfare consumed Cybertron, poisoning the planet to its core."

"Which affected Primus as well, right?" Maria asked, thinking back to what had been said some time earlier.

"Primus?" Wonder Woman repeated.

"The creator of the original Thirteen Primes -- the first Cybertronians -- and the Spark at the center of Cybertron," Ratchet supplied. "Megatron had used Dark Energon on the planet's core, severely damaging our own creator. Orion journeyed there, hoping to reverse the ill affects, and found himself in front of Primus himself. The ailing Primus sensed the innate nobility that was within Orion and bestowed upon him the Matrix. It was thus that a surprised -- and humbled -- Orion Pax came to be Optimus. The last of the Primes."

"So, Optimus got the Matrix from Cybertron's core, and now he's going to give it to Earth's?" Miko was thinking out loud in order to wrap her head around the situation.

"What's to stop Megatron from claiming the Matrix this time around?" Jack asked.

"Only his greater desire to save his planet so that he may in turn conquer it," Ratchet grumbled. "As he so compellingly argued."

"Provided that the leader of the Decepticreeps can ever fully be trusted," Maria pointed out. "I mean, word 'deception' is right there in the name of their faction."

"Indeed it is," the medic confirmed, nodding. "Decepticons are known for being deceitful when they wish to be, and Megatron has succeeded at this the most out of all those he has as underlings."

"Do you think that he could be pulling Optimus and the others into a trap?" Jack asked, frowning.

"At this point in time, I find it highly unlikely, as Megatron wishes to save this world as much as we do--if only so that he can conquer it." Ratchet's tone became bitter as he spoke.

Before anyone else could speak, a loud beeping noise suddenly came from the computer, prompting Ratchet to turn and look at the monitors in order to see what exactly the problem was.

"Communications are down, as is expected," the medic reported. "But we've lost their signals."

"Doesn't that mean--" Raf started.

"Usually. But this is more likely because of those electromagnetic anomalies."

"Which explains why we haven't been contacted by the other members of the Justice League," Wonder Woman noted.

"They'll be fine," Batman stated. "The Team was able to handle things with the Reach without us. That proves their abilities enough."

"Well, you're certainly confident," Mrs. Darby suddenly noted, looking over at Batman with her hands on her hips.

"You'd be too, if you knew how the Team could handle things," Maria replied. "Shoot, I've even got my own version of that in the Pokemon world, and I know for a fact that they can handle themselves pretty well over there without me."

Jack's mother turned and gave Maria a slightly befuddled expression, but then realization crossed her features. "You've stepped away from your home world before, haven't you?"

The blue-eyes Reploid gave a nod. "Yup. This is my fifth time away from home. And I have to say that I'm enjoying every minute of it--even if there's a major crisis going on right now."

"Perhaps, while we wait for the others to return, you can explain about these 'other realities' of yours," Ratchet remarked.

Maria frowned for a moment. "Maybe...." The frown cleared up a moment later, and she gave a smile. "Well, I don't see why not. Besides, what happened to me is pretty different compared to what other people know about the worlds I've been to."

"How different?" Miko asked.

"Well, I got to meet Keyblade Master Riku and help former Nobody Lea out in the Disney version of Atlantis." Maria smiled brightly. "Although, in order to explain how I got there, I'd have to go back and explain how I managed to get mixed up in the whole World Jumping business in the first place."

The other kids gave Maria attentive looks while Wonder Woman and Mrs. Darby simply looked interested, and Matt just gave a knowing smirk. Batman was the only one who didn't really display any sort of emotional reaction to the Reploid's statement.

However, Maria wasn't even able to start explaining her story, because a sudden tremor rocked the base, causing the lights to flicker. Maria and the others steeled themselves against the shaking, looking around in alarm in case something else decided to happen.

Ratchet looked over the data on the computers. "The Earth is getting worse," he warned. "Optimus...hurry. Please."

Mrs. Darby and Fowler started to direct Jack, Miko, and Raf to safe places to hold onto in case the tremors struck again with greater force. The three kids scattered, looking for safe places to be, while Maria turned and looked at her brother.

"You're absolutely certain that it happened like this when I was gone in the Neo-Mobius realm during Spring Break," Maria stated in a serious manner.

Matt nodded. "Yeah. We ended up hearing about what happened around the world days after, and no one really seemed to know what to pin the cause on other than the planetary alignment. And then strange things were constantly popping up afterwards on the local news--a lot of people were claiming to have seen giant robots going at each other in a few places."

Maria felt her internal temperature drop by ten degrees; the Reploid couldn't believe her ears. "Giant robots? On _our_ world?"

"Yeah."

Another tremor shook the base, causing Matthew and Maria to stumble for a moment before regaining their footing and locking their blue eyes with each other's.

"This is getting to be hard to believe, Matt," Maria stated, looking up at her older brother. "You're absolutely certain about this?"

Her brown-haired brother gave a nod. "Yeah. There's no way around it. Our world...has Cybertronians on it, too."

"How can you be so certain?" Ratchet suddenly demanded. A large rock suddenly dislodged itself from the ceiling, but the mech caught it and tossed it aside before it could hit the humans and Reploid who had yet to actually take shelter. "If you hadn't known about us before, why would we exist on your world? Surely you would have come into contact with them!"

"It's not exactly that easy for me to do that!" Maria replied. "I live in the Midwest; you guys are out here in Nevada. Mom and Dad would ground me for six months if they discovered that I'd decided to go on a cross-country trip on our home world to find people that may not even exist there. We don't really know for certain if they exist at home or not."

"You have evidence that suggests otherwise," Wonder Woman pointed out.

"That may be, but I won't know for certain until I'm presented with some pretty physical proof."

The tremors suddenly increased in strength, causing the Reploid and the others to stumble.

"Matthew, you'd better hope that your little prediction will work out!" Fowler growled as he latched onto a nearby railing. "Or else we're probably all going to die!"

"Have a little faith, Fowler!" Matthew called back, an unusual grin coming over his features. He stumbled a little as the tremors increased, then gripped a railing for a stairway himself. Maria quickly moved over to stand next to him. "We're not going to die today. This thing is going to be stopped dead in its tracks."

For a few minutes, nobody spoke as the base shook from the tremors of Unicron's movement. When the tremors suddenly got worse, they stopped short just as quickly.

Maria, who had shut her eyes tightly, cautiously opened one eye to have a look around. When the tremors didn't come back, she released her grip on the railing and stepped back.

"Earthquakes can never stop just like that," she noted.

"When they're not normal, they do that," Matthew replied. "Or have you learned nothing from everything you've done in other worlds already?"

Maria sent her older brother a sour look. "I was just making an observation, all right?" She looked over at Ratchet, who had been standing protectively over the computer. "Ratchet, is there any news on the others?"

"I am already checking, Maria," Ratchet replied. The Autobot looked at the computer screens hopefully as bust shots of the other members of the team out appeared. A moment later, their life signals appeared as well, earning a sigh of relief from the medic.

"Whoo-hoo!" Miko exclaimed, fist pumping. "They did it!"

Maria gave a tired smile and released a sigh of relief herself. "Thank goodness."

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, though, a headache hit her, causing the Reploid to flinch and raise her left hand to her head in order to try and remove it by rubbing her left temple. The vision that quickly followed left Maria feeling dumbfounded.

No one else seemed to notice Maria's actions however; they were instead watching Ratchet activate the Ground Bridge to allow for the Autobots to return. Seconds later, Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead came through the Ground Bridge, varying amounts of dejection on their faces and in their optics.

"Where's Optimus?" Ratchet asked, concerned. "Is he--"

"No, he's not," Arcee replied. The medic relaxed upon hearing this.

"But he looked straight at us without recognizing any of us," Bulkhead added. "He didn't even know his own name. And he left with Megatron -- treated him like they were best buds." Bulkhead frowned. "I don't get it. What happened in there when Optimus used the Matrix?"

Maria let out a grunt and rubbed her head. "...I think I might know."

Seconds later, the Reploid found herself the subject of the stares of every Autobot and human present.

"What is it?" Wonder Woman asked.

"It's...kind of hard to explain...."

"Then can you show us?" Arcee prompted.

Maria looked up at the femme Cybertronian, studying her face, her optics.

"I can," the Reploid finally admitted. "But that doesn't mean that I want to." After a moment, she let out a sigh and raised her left hand, a determined look on her face. "Let's not waste any time, then." She lowered her arm in a quick slashing motion.

A holographic screen appeared in the space behind Maria as the group gathered around. It lit up to show a dark purple corridor, with Optimus, Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Megatron fighting a group of what appeared to be little flying robots with Dark Energon veins.

_Megatron slashed through one of the robots and fired on another, landing in a kneeling position in front of some sort of door._

**_::_ Megatron. Do as I command::** _The sound of battle faded as a voice echoed in Megatron's head. **::**_ **Destroy the Prime!::**

_Megatron let out a roar and fully collapsed onto his knees._

_::_ Megatron!:: _Optimus exclaimed, turning back from the battle to look at the Decepticon._

_Megatron covered his face with his claws, let out another roar, then pushed Optimus aside and fired on an oncoming creature, destroying it._

_::_ Unicron's Spark...lies just beyond:: _Megatron managed, turning to face the door. He ran for it, Optimus turning around to fire a few more times at the creatures._

 _::_ How do we get inside?::

::By fooling Unicron's defenses into believing we're not a threat:: _The Decepticon emblem on Megatron's chest glowed purple while an eerie sound came out. He walked towards the door, and it opened up. Megatron then started to walk forward into the new corridor._

::Autobots, I will leave you to keep our attackers at bay for as long as you can:: _Optimus stated. After firing off a couple more shots, he ran after Megatron, the door closing up behind him, leaving Arcee and the other two to fend off the robots._

 _::_ We've gotta hold fast. For Optimus!:: _Bulkhead exclaimed._

The scene changed, going through a winding corridor as Optimus ran through it, coming to a stop beside Megatron in front of a glowing purple sphere of energy.

 _Megatron bared his teeth as he glared at it, then turned to look at the Autobot. ::_ Optimus, swiftly!::

_Optimus nodded, then stepped forward, preparing to open up his chest. As if in response, tendrils of Dark Energon started to move out from the Spark. Optimus was hit with one, and he went down into a kneeling position. Megatron was attacked, as well, and he let out a roar as he covered his face with one of his hands._

**::Megatron::** _Megatron gripped his head as his optics were glowing with Dark Energon, the Decepticon grunting at the sudden invasion by Unicron._ **::Destroy the Prime. I command you::**

_Megatron collapsed, then started to get up, Dark Energon veins showing up clearly on his form. The Decepticon was glaring at his claws, then his sword came out and he started to step forward to where Optimus was growling as he was trying to get up, clearly being affected by his close proximity to the Dark Energon._

_Megatron raised his sword and was about to strike, but paused and appeared to be fighting the urge to slice the Autobot, a snarl clearly on his features. His sword came down, but the other hand stopped it, Megatron glaring at it and letting out a roar. His sword retracted and his eyes returned to the semi-normal purple shade they had been inside the base. ::_ Megatron is commanded by NO ONE!::

_The Spark seemed to react to this, Dark Energon tendrils moving around the sphere faster and faster. Megatron collapsed to his knees, his eyes flashing with different levels of Dark Energon as he roared. He slowly stood up as Unicron's eyes and mouth appeared, silhouetted in the Spark, only for the Decepticon to collapse, deactivated, as Optimus managed to get up on one knee._

_::_ Matrix of Leadership, I call upon you:: _Optimus stated. Something in his chest responded, glowing a bright blue._

 **::You cannot defeat me, Disciple of Primus::** _Megatron got up, Dark Energon creating an aura around him. His voice sounded like a combination between Unicron's and Megatron's._ **::I have transcended physical being. By my will alone, all upon this world shall fall into chaos!::**

::Not while I still function, Unicron. The Matrix will light our darkest hour!:: _Optimus responded, glancing back. He turned to face Unicron's Spark as he got to his feet and crossed his arms over his chest, preparing to unleash the energy within him._

 ** _::_ Noooo!::** _Unicron yelled, preparing Magatron's ion cannon. There was nothing the Chaos Bringer could really do, however, as a force field appeared around Optimus right before he unleashed a blue beam from his chest._

_It struck Unicron's Spark and started a chain of reaction, the Spark unleashing a wave of Dark Energon as the Matrix energy tore through him. Megatron was thrown back, no longer possessed by the robotic titan._

_Optimus, after unleashing all of the Matrix energy, collapsed as his chest closed with accompanying sounds that could be clearly identified with something powering down. At the same time, Unicron's Spark let out a roar, then suddenly disappeared in a blue flash._

_At the same time, the robots that had been attacking the Autobots collapsed, their source of energy gone, as whatever disasters that blighted the world disappeared swiftly._

_Back in Unicron's core, Megatron got up from where he had landed, growling a little at the possible processor-ache the possession had left him with, his optics returned to their blood-red shade. He looked over, and caught sight of Optimus lying collapsed on the floor, groaning._

_Silently, the Decepticon got up from his kneeling position. ::_ Teamwork. Hmph:: _He brought out his sword and started toward Optimus._

 _Optimus, hearing someone approach, looked up, a confused look clearly in his optics. Once his optics had completely focused, he saw Megatron, and asked, ::_ Where are we, Megatronus?::

 _Megatron's optics widened upon hearing his old name, and after looking at Optimus curiously for a moment, retracted his sword and stepped forward, offering Optimus some help in getting up -- which the Autobot accepted. ::_ Don't you remember, old friend?::

_Optimus' battle mask retracted as the previously locked door opened, causing him and Megatron to look over._

_::_ Optimus, are you okay?:: _Bulkhead asked as he stepped through, wrecking balls out._

 _::_ Why did he call me that?:: _Optimus asked Megatron, clearly confused._

_Bumblebee and Arcee dashed forward._

_::_ What did you do to him?:: _Arcee demanded._

::Who are they?:: _Optimus asked. A Ground Bridge appeared behind the two, and Megatron quickly though up an answer._

 _::_ Our mortal enemies!:: _Placing a hand on Optimus' shoulder, he continued, ::_ We're outnumbered. Go! I'll cover you:: _He started to fire at the Autobots, who scattered, as Optimus dashed over to the Ground Bridge. Before he went through, he glanced back, a confused look in his optics. Bumblebee looked at him with concern, before Optimus disappeared into the vortex. Megatron was quick to follow._

Maria motioned with her left hand, and the hologram disappeared. "There. That's what happened." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Is Optimus suffering from amnesia?" Matt asked, frowning.

Maria shook her head. "He believed Megatron -- or, should I say, _Megatronus."_

Ratchet's optics widened. "That means...he's reverted!"

"Reverted?" Jack repeated.

"To the pre-Prime state of Orion Pax," he medic stated grimly.

"Which Megatron will probably take advantage of," Maria added, dropping her arms. "But what he's going to use him _for_ is the question....and how we're going to get Optimus back."

"And what about this?"

Everyone turned to look over at Jack, who was holding up the glowing blue and silver key that Optimus had handed to him before leaving through the Ground Bridge.

Ratchet almost stumbled back in surprise. "No. Optimus gave you _that_?"

Jack shrugged. "He said it was the key to the Ground Bridge power supply. What's so important about it?"

"There is no key to the Ground Bridge power supply," Ratchet replied, shaking his helm. "That is the key to Vector Sigma."

"Key to Vector Sigma?" Maria repeated, confused.

"It's an ancient place of mystical energy that holds the collective wisdom of the Primes," the medic explained.

"So...it's like a supercomputer?" Raf asked.

Ratchet snorted. "It's much more than that! If we're going to get Optimus back, someone is going to have to take Jack _and_ the key _to_ _Cybertron_ in order to find Vector Sigma."

"Why do they have to take Jack there?" Mrs. Darby demanded. "Why can't it be one of the Autobots?"

"Because Vector Sigma will only open for a Prime," Ratchet responded. "The key card is locked onto Jack's unique bio signature. It will lead only Jack to where Vector Sigma lies."

"You mean you guys don't know where it is?" Miko asked.

"It's shrouded in mystery," Arcee replied with a shrug. "No one has really given it as second thought as to whether the place existed."

"Well, it sounds like it exists," Matthew remarked, motioning to what Jack was holding. "But we're going to need a way to get to Cybertron, right? Could the Ground Bridge do it?"

Ratchet shook his head. "No. I had difficulty sending the team up into the atmosphere, but sending them into deep space with the Ground Bridge would be absolutely impossible."

"Couldn't you, like, turbocharge the thing?" Miko asked, jabbing her thumb in the direction of the aforementioned portal-generating device.

"That could do it," Wonder Woman remarked.

"But there is also the chance that you could be vaporized with all the extra energy that would be involved," Batman added.

"And that is a risk that I do not want to take," Ratchet intoned grimly. "If we are to restore Optimus to his Prime self, we will have to find another way."

"In the meantime, we're going to have to keep an eye on the Decepticreeps to see if they're going to end up trying anything with Optimus," Maria spoke up. "I want to stick around and see if there's anything I can do around here to help you guys out." Glancing over at the two members of the Justice League, she added quickly, "If that's okay with you guys."

"These are your allies as much as ours," Wonder Woman stated. "You may do as you like to assist them as much as you can." She looked over at Batman, who gave a slight nod of agreement.

Maria gave the two a grin, then turned and looked at her brother. "You still need to work on your skills with your Aura, right? I might be able to give you some help with throwing projectiles around."

Matt's blue eyes widened in surprise. "Now?"

"Well, why not? It'll give us some time to work on figuring out some stuff concerning this world and ours, too." Maria started for the elevator. "Come on--I want to get some practice with my firepower in, anyway."

Matt blinked in slight bewilderment for a moment, then gave a nod. "Right. That actually isn't a bad idea." He started after his sister. "Besides, I want to see how good I might be able to do against you in a fight."

Maria gave a laugh in reply. "Good luck with that. It's going to be a while before you get up to my level of power."

"We'll see about what you have to say after we dance around for a few rounds."


	19. Chapter 19

_::Ratchet! Maria! Are you two awake?! This is an emergency!::_

The mentioned Reploid and medic looked up from the Ground Bridge controls upon hearing Fowler's annoyed voice. Despite what Batman had mentioned about the possible attempt of turning the Ground Bridge into a Space Bridge by hand, the medic insisted on upgrading their present teleportation system to allow for easier transportation into stranger situations -- and to allow for possible connection to the Zeta Tube system the Justice League used.

"Agent Fowler," Ratchet greeted, adjusting his grip on a giant wrench he was holding. "Is it Optimus?"

:: _It's Cons. They're attacking the same base with that power source they want::_

"It's that Space Bridge again," Bulkhead noted as he, Bumblebee, and Arcee came over. Matthew was nowhere to be seen, as he has disappeared to get some rest away from the noise that his sister and Ratchet were making. Jack, Miko, and Raf were at home, as well, seeing as school was long since out for the day, meaning that the Autobots were free to investigate anything that might have come up.

"Before all we know, Optimus could be riding with them," Arcee stated grimly.

"That I doubt," Maria remarked.

"Roll out," Ratchet stated. He quickly powered up the Ground Bridge, typing in the coordinates of the base. "All four of you, go."

"Seriously? We're bringing her with us, too?" Bulkhead looked down at Maria.

"I can hold my own. Besides, Matthew has earned himself a break from my midnight surprises." The Reploid walked over to the Ground Bridge, then looked back. "Are you guys coming or not?"

Bulkhead muttered something, then transformed into his vehicle mode. "Get in."

Maria blinked in surprise. "You serious?"

"You didn't want the Cons to spot you if you ever went out, did you?"

Maria let out a short laugh, then suddenly disappeared from their sight, much to the Autobots' surprise.

"I've got a Light Refractor built into my systems," Maria's disembodied voice suddenly explained. "I think I can hide myself easily enough."

Bumblebee beeped, then transformed into vehicle mode, as did Arcee. Bulkhead then rolled forward, the other two following. Only the subtle sound of jets hinted at Maria's movement.

The four quickly moved through the Ground Bridge and appeared on the military base, the three Autobots transforming as they jumped out of the bridge and started for two figures that were standing nearby.

"Knock Out! Breakdown!" Bulkhead barked. "Drop the power source!"

"Aren't you missing someone?" Knock Out -- a bright red mech -- asked teasingly. The three Autobots prepared to fire at him, only for three objects to come flying in from above.

:: _Great. Vehicon Seekers::_ Maria growled mentally over the comm-link. :: _Anyone want to cover for me while I throw a couple Fire Spheres in their direction?::_

 _::We're not going to risk it::_ Arcee replied in the same manner as the Autobots started to exchange fire with the Seekers. :: _You don't want to reveal yourself to the Decepticons just yet, do you?::_

 _::No, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to_ help::

"Ready for the Bridge!" Knock Out shouted, sounding annoyed. A Ground Bridge appeared behind him, and the one-optic eyed Breakdown ran through it, the power source on one shoulder.

Looking over at the Autobots, Knock Out sneered as he added, "We'll be sure to tell the Big O you said hello." He ran off through the Ground Bridge.

 _::No!::_ Arcee suddenly transformed into vehicle mode and zoomed after the Decepticons at high speed. Bulkhead called out after her in alarm, but the Vehicon Seekers soon regained his attention by shooting blaster fire directly in front of him.

 _::Wait for me! I'm coming, too!::_ There came a sound like air being blasted, and a slight shockwave appeared in the air as something moved from behind Bulkhead and Bumblebee went after Arcee. The Seeker who had shot at Bulkhead tried to shoot at the moving invisible object, as well, but they moved into the Ground Bridge and out of the Decepticon's reach before he could.

As Maria came through the Ground Bridge, the Light Refractor lost its power, forcing the red orange, and gray-armored Reploid to dive behind a purple support in order to stay out of sight of the Decepticons. Maria was quick to land, allowing for her hoverboard to reconnect with her back in the battery pack form.

At the same time, Arcee's vehicle mode flew between Knock Out and Breakdown before landing and zooming off into the ship.

"Scrap," Knock Out muttered.

Maria grinned as she watched Knock Out and Breakdown run off in two opposite directions--the first in the direction that Arcee had gone, and the other in a different direction, with the power source being carried over one shoulder. The Reploid couldn't believe her luck--she had managed to follow the Decepticons, and they didn't even know that she was in their base! Now she could start looking around for anything that could be of use against them.

_*You do realize that there's someone else who's here who might benefit from seeing you*_

Maria stiffened in surprise when she heard Inferno's voice. The strange, conscience-like being that was residing in her head hadn't chosen to speak for the past two months for one reason or another, but suddenly speaking up now, after so long....

"Who are you talking about?" Maria asked quietly. She poked her head out from where she was hiding and seeing no Cybertronians around, started walking down the purple corridor, her metallic feet hitting against the purple floor with metallic _clangs_ at every step.

 _*I'm talking about Optimus. If he's here working for Megatron somehow, then you might be able to convince him to_ leave _and make our job of restoring his memories a whole lot easier*_

Maria's blue eyes widened as soon as she heard this. "Hey, you're right!" A frown quickly appeared on her face soon after. "But...how am I going to find him...?

_*I'd suggest following Arcee's carnage. Maybe she managed to carve a path towards him somehow*_

The Reploid gave a slight nod. "OK. I'll go ahead and do that. It's the only lead I've got right now, at any rate."

Making sure that there were no Cons in the area, Maria activated her hoverboard and started to fly through the corridors, searching for the wreckage that Arcee would have left behind during her rampage. She was quick to find her way through the winding corridors, catching sight of some of Arcee's handiwork, including the torn off heads of Vehicons and a couple destroyed Spark chambers. Pools of a glowing blue substance -- Energon -- were starting to gather all over the place, forcing Maria to take some action in avoiding them. After all, she didn't want to cause the volatile fuel to go off completely by accident and give away her position.

As Maria followed the trail, her thoughts turned to that of Optimus, and how she was going to try and convince him that the Autobots were actually the good guys. Considering that Optimus--or rather, _Orion_ \--and Megatron were technically old friends, saying anything against the Decepticon leader would probably set the archivist off. And then there was how she was going to introduce herself to him....

Maria shook thoughts of her plan from her mind as she slowed and landed at a crossroads. Behind her was a small scattering of offlined Vehicons. In front of her was a pair of Vehicons that were still up and moving around. They looked like they had been picking up their fallen comrades for some time, now.

 _Great. Looks like I'm losing the trail._ The Reploid looked around, trying to find something that might hint at a continuation of Arcee's path of destruction. However, the only thing that she really saw was that the corridor continued forward and split like a "T" at the end of it.

And the two Vehicons that were still moving around were standing directly in front of it.

Maria's blue eyes narrowed in annoyance, and she let out a snort that mimicked her mood. "Great. Looks like I've got to get past those two in order to keep going. I wonder why Arcee didn't take care of those two...."

The brown-haired Reploid started to move forward cautiously, not taking her eyes off the two purple and silver Decepticons in front of her. If either one of them were to catch sight of her, she wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen. Sure, she had trained against holograms in the Autobots' training center, but that didn't exactly mean that she was prepared for a fight against the real deal.

Maria's metal boots suddenly hit a collapsed Vehicon's arm, resulting in a loud _clang_. The Reploid quickly pulled back in surprise...but not before the two moving Vehicons turned their attention in her direction.

"What in the Pit is _that_ thing?" one of the Vehicons asked, turning to look at his companion.

"It looks like one of those human things," the other replied.

Maria blinked for a moment. The Autobots had never said that the Vehicons could _talk_. She supposed that meant they had more knowledge than just some sort of mere drone, like the Reploid had originally suspected.

"We'd better get rid of it before it causes us any trouble by getting stuck in someone's foot circuits," the first one stated. He started towards Maria, and she bristled a little when he aimed his blaster at her.

Maria quickly brought up her right arm, shifting it into Buster mode and started to charge it.

"What do you think that's going to do?" the Vehicon aiming his blaster mocked.

"More than your shotgun, that's for sure." A knowing smirk appeared on Maria's face, and she promptly fired.

**Spacial Break -- Change in POV**

"Whoo-hoo! Catch me if you can, rust buckets!"

Orion jolted in surprise upon hearing the slightly muted voice of a femme somewhere outside of his workstation. The only femme Cybertronian he was aware of on the ship was Arachnid, and she didn't sound as... _delighted_ as this voice was.

There was the sound of shooting -- was there some sort of target practice session going on? The archivist had heard blasters going off twice today, now, and it was starting to become worrisome.

Suddenly, the femme's voice let out a short cry before becoming silenced. About the same time, the shooting suddenly stopped. Curious, Orion turned slightly to face the door, a perplexed look on his faceplate. When no one came in after a moment, he reluctantly turned back to face his work. Those files weren't going to decrypt themselves, after all....

Behind him, the door suddenly opened, and there was the quiet sound of feet clanking against the floor.

There was a soft whistle that sounded like it was filled with reverence as the door shut itself. "Wow.... Quite the set up they've got in here."

Orion turned, expecting to see a Cybertronian standing behind him -- a newcomer to the Decepticons, perhaps? -- only to see that no one of his species was standing there. In fact, it seemed as though there was no one standing there at all.

"I'm down here!"

The archivist looked down, surprise filling his optics when he saw the small figure standing there, wearing red, orange, and gray armor from the base of the neck cables down to their feet--including the white armor on their servos. Strange, blue optics looked up at him with awe in them.

"What are you?" Orion asked, getting down on one knee in order to get a better look at the new figure. "Some sort of Mini-Con?"

"Mini-Con?" The figure, now pegged as the source of the femme's voice, cocked her head as she frowned in confusion. "I haven't heard of anything like that before. What's that?"

Orion was somewhat taken aback upon hearing this. "You're...not a miniature Cybertronian?"

"Uh...no. I haven't heard of anything like that before." The femme reached behind the back of her helm--which was covered in strange, brown cables--and rubbed it while a sheepish expression came over her faceplate.

"What are you, then?"

"Hmmm....that's a bit of a hard question to answer." The femme frowned for a moment, her eyes moving to the ceiling as she focused, but didn't quite seem to. "I guess you could say that I'm a prototype for a human project, even though I wasn't exactly supposed to actually _be_ one."

Orion blinked in confusion. Human? Prototype project? This femme wasn't making any sense.

"Would you please elaborate?" Orion asked.

"I'll try, but...wow, I'm not sure if what I know is going to make any sense with what you know." The femme regained her sheepish smile. "How about we start with introductions first? My name's Maria. What's yours?"

"Name?"

"Yeah. What you call yourself."

Orion blinked for a moment. "You mean a designation?"

"If that's what you call it." The femme--Maria--shrugged. "So, what's your designation?"

"I am Orion Pax." Orion held out a servo in order to let the femme step on. "So, what exactly are you?"

Maria stepped onto the servo and placed her hands on her hips. "I'm what people call a Replicating Android, or Reploid for short. Basically, I can mimic human actions and emotions as though I am human myself. Which...is pretty helpful, considering that I used to be human, and the creator of the technology saved my life."

Orion pulled himself up to his full height. "Intriguing. Do all of these...'humans' look like you, then?"

"Well, humans are actually pretty diverse in appearance, so some may have my eyes or my hair color, but that doesn't mean that they're my identical twin. None of them have my armor, either--that's an after-effect of me turning into a Reploid." Maria shifted her stance as she spoke, as Orion was moving upward while she was speaking. As a result, any shifts his servo made from the movement forced her to shift where her feet were so that she could remain upright.

"How did you get here?" Orion inquired. It would have been nearly impossible to have a small creature such as Maria to come here.

"I followed some of your friends here, and I've kind of gotten myself lost running around and playing tag with your buddies." Maria shrugged helplessly.

Ah. So that's what was causing the commotion outside his room earlier.

"It certainly would have been curious, if you had managed to find a way onto the _Nemesis_ by a different path," Orion noted.

Maria blinked in confusion. " _Nemesis?_ Is that what this place is called?"

"Yes. It is a Cybertronian ship."

Maria's blue eyes widened. "A _ship?_ As in a _spaceship?"_

The shock must have caused her systems to stall, Orion noted dryly. "That is correct. The _Nemesis_ is a ship that my friend, Megatronus, brought to Earth to escape the destruction of our home world Cybertron." The mech paused. "Excuse me. I had forgotten that Megatronus now goes by Megatron."

Maria blinked for a moment. "What happened to your home world?"

"A great war...which I have missed because of the Autobots." Orion looked over at the computer monitor behind him, which was covered in lines of code--Cybertronian code. "Megatron has requested that I decode their database in order to discover their plans."

A strange expression came over Maria's face, but that soon disappeared. "OK. But...why did Megatron choose to come to Earth--my home world?"

"He was chasing the Autobots, I believe. They are here on the planet somewhere."

"Really? I didn't know that."

Right then, a ping came through from somewhere that Optimus couldn't identify, followed by an unfamiliar voice.

_*Something tells me that you two are going to get more done if you have this in mind. Here, speak this code aloud: Protocol Alpha-Beta: Activate. It'll let Maria show you something really interesting*_

Orion frowned. "Protocol Alpha-Beta: Activate?" he repeated, confused.

Maria's blue eyes widened, and she let out a squeak of surprise when Orion spoke the code. Her armored form instantly started to glow brightly, surprising Orion as well. Was this what that strange voice had meant?

The glow quickly faded, allowing for both Maria and Orion look over her armor, which they did with newfound curiosity and awe.

Maria's chest, boots, abdomen, shoulder guards, and forearms were now a deep red, while her legs, stomach, and upper arms had changed to a dark, royal blue. Her gloves remained white, as did the rings that protected her joints, while her shoulder guards were now ornamented with two silver symbols: the Decepticon on her left shoulder, and the Autobot on her right.

Orion found this to be odd. Why would this Reploid have the Decepticon and Autobot symbols on her, even though this was her first contact with one? And mimicking his armor's coloring, as well....

"That I was not expecting," Maria noted, still looking down at herself. Her voice brought Orion out of his thoughts. "However, I'm not about to question it now." She looked up at Orion, who was eyeing her with a befuddled expression.

"What did this code do to you?" Orion inquired. He would have to find the source of the strange voice later. Now, Maria was the one who could give him the answers she could.

Maria let out a sigh as her form relaxed. "The code is something that very few know about. It bonds me to whomever has spoken it, and I am to follow their every command until the deactivation code is spoken. As an after-effect, it changes the color of my armor and also allows me to now some of what the one who spoke the code knows."

_Hmmm...intriguing. But what would she gain from me?_

Maria suddenly stiffened and looked around for a moment, but she said nothing. Orion frowned slightly at this, but decided that it wasn't anything that he should probably be worried about. After all, this was the Reploid's first time on a Cybertronian ship.

"How extensive is the information you have gained?" Orion asked instead.

"It'll probably take me a little bit to go over the data, but my systems are working on it right now." A thoughtful expression came over her face, and moments later, Maria's voice suddenly echoed in Orion's processor.

_It also seems as though I can hear your thoughts, which didn't happen the last time the Protocol was activated, which was also the first time._

Orion stiffened at this. _This hasn't happened before?_

_No. It may be, perhaps, because of who had spoken the code. He was organic and a warrior. Your genetic makeup, however, seems to be more mechanical, and you don't seem to have any combat experience...._

Maria paused in her thought for a moment, then added, _Which will make my combat skills useless in this place._

"You've been in battle?" Orion was surprised enough to speak aloud. Well, that might explain something about the armor...and how she was able to stand up against some of the Vehicons and survive.

"Yeah. I'm not a stranger to it, but there are times when talking things over might have been better...." Maria gained a sheepish expression. "Oh, well."

The door to Orion's workstation suddenly flew open, and the mech looked up from his newfound companion in order to see who was there. His optics widened slightly out of surprise. On his servo, Maria turned and stood in a proud stance, her bright blue eyes now carrying a piercing quality.

"Hello, Orion Pax," Megatron greeted smoothly as he stepped into the room, servos behind his back. His red optics, although appearing calm, also carried a calculating expression. "What is it that you have? Some sort of Mini-Con?" The silver mech didn't even bother to bend down to give the Reploid a closer look; Orion supposed that it wasn't in his nature, considering how much he hated to do it against those who had once run the gladiatorial rings of Kaon.

"She told me that she is a human-like being," Orion replied truthfully. "A creature called a 'Reploid'. It seems she is a native of the planet below us--which she calls Earth."

"Is she, now?" Megatron's optics sparked with an unidentifiable emotion as he looked down at Maria. "What is your designation, Reploid?"

_Do I have your permission to speak with him?_

This question must be a part of the Protocol that Maria mentioned. _You do._

Maria shifted slightly in her stance, not taking her eyes off the leader of the Decepticons. "My designation is Maria White."

Orion noticed that Maria's voice was strangely serious, unlike when she had been speaking to him alone before. Was she like this when others who weren't bonded to her tried to speak with her?

Megatron's optics moved to Maria's shoulder guards, taking note of the symbols that were located there. "Your creators wouldn't happen to know anything about us, would they?"

"Negatory. My form adjusts to my surroundings in order to adapt to any situation."

 _You're lying,_ Orion mentally noted.

_The Protocol is not something that should be disclosed to all. He does not need to know of it...unless you want me to tell him of it._

_...._

"Does this mean you will be staying here and assisting us?" Megatron asked coolly, raising an optic ridge.

"That depends on whether the Peaceful One had need of me."

"Peaceful One?" Orion repeated, confused. She knew his name wasn't that.

Maria glanced back at the mech. "The word 'pax' in the Earthen language means 'peace'. As it is a part of your name, it also means 'peaceful one'." The Reploid then returned her gaze to Megatron.

Megatron gave the Reploid a slightly amused look. "I'll take that as a yes, then." His optics narrowed by a minute amount. "However, if I catch you doing something you really shouldn't, then I _will_ make sure you are punished accordingly."

"I do not doubt that."

Megatron, who had been about to step out of the room, paused and glanced back for a moment before leaving, the door shutting behind him.

"This 'Protocol'." Orion turned to face the computers and looked down at Maria with a curious expression. "Is it truly that important that you must keep it a secret?"

Maria nodded, a grim look coming over her face. "The man who originally inputted the Protocol into me planned on using me for things that would go against my own programmed morals--ideals I have carried with me from when I was a human. The man who saved my life by turning me into a Reploid removed most of his effects, but some of it still remains. I have become very protective of who learns of the Protocol as a result."

That was an unexpected statement. Orion was surprised to hear something like this from Maria--the Protocol was not a part of her? What sort of person would attempt to do that to a small creature who acted so much like a youngling?

"There's something else, as well."

Orion was shaken out of his questioning thoughts by Maria's grim tone. "What is it?"

"I can sense that you trust that mech, Pax, but I am afraid that I do not." Maria crossed her arms over her chest and glanced over at the computer screen for a moment before looking back at Orion.

What? But she had only just met Megatron!

"Why not?" the archivist asked, frowning at the Reploid.

"Something about him does not bode well with me. His eyes -- optics, I mean -- the coloring has been known among Reploids as a sign that one from among us has gone...Maverick. That is, they're rebelling against the programming given to them at their creation and have become violent." Maria shrugged, her arms dropping to her sides. "I do not know if such things affect your kind."

Was that all that she was worried about?

"Such things should not," Orion noted. "The Hate Plague was terminated Giga-cycles ago. Such things should not affect a Cybertronian Spark -- or any other species, for that matter. Why would such things occur among your kind?"

"No one knows. Some claim a virus made by a spiteful scientist years before Reploids were created was the source of the trouble, but even that may be false." Maria turned her full attention to the computer screen, her eyes going over the code. "So, what's all this?"

"These are files that Lord Megatron obtained from somewhere -- the precise location, he did not tell me. From what I've seen so far, they seem to be...coordinates, among other things." Orion stared at the screen for a moment, then placed Maria on the keyboard and started typing. "He has been unable to fully decrypt the files, and he asked me to look into it after he brought me out of stasis when he rescued me from the Autobots."

Maria cocked her head slightly. "Coordinates? You mean, Earthen locations?"

"From what I have found so far. They seem to be places chosen by the Autobot rebels as locations to leave vessels. My worst fear would be weapons of mass destruction, hidden away for later use."

"Letting the enemy get their hands on them would certainly be a bad idea," Maria noted. She looked the screen over for a moment longer, then stepped on a key that Orion had been reaching for, promptly decoding another entry. "There!"

"How did you--"

"I picked up a few things when you spoke that code, remember? The knowledge I have of you and the other -- Cybertronians? Is that it? -- is incomplete, but I have enough of it to learn how to decipher these entries." The Reploid looked up at Orion. "I will be of limited help, but a pair of fresh eyes to this can pick out a few things that others might not see." A grin appeared on her face. "Let's see how many of these files we can decode!"


	20. Chapter 20

"Maria went and did _what?_ "

"She followed me onto the Decepticon ship and set off to look for Optimus," Arcee explained to Matt as Jack, Miko, and Raf got onto the platform where the other-worlder was sitting. "She wasn't thrown out with me by Soundwave, considering that she hasn't attempted to contact us, so she must be hiding somewhere on their ship as we speak."

"Really?" Miko gained a look of annoyance. "Lucky."

"Well, she was pretty dead-set on finding Optimus," Jack recalled. He looked over at the Reploid's older brother. "It looks like all we can do now is wait for Maria to report in when she gets the chance."

"That probably won't be easy."

The humans and Autobots present turned their heads as a certain red and white mech walked over from the elevator.

"What do you mean, Ratchet?" Matt asked, blue eyes darkening as he frowned.

"Orion is probably going to be closely monitored, in case his memories return without the use of Vector Sigma, as you are all so dead-set on that plan." The medic sounded strangely bitter as he spoke. "If Maria does find him, she will have to be careful, because one wrong word would probably set Megatron off."

"Set him off how?" Raf asked.

Ratchet let out a sigh and walked over to his workspace near the computer. "Well, it has been known among Cybertronians that Megatron does not have the best of tempers...."

Miko chuckled. "Megatron? Going on a temper tantrum? Wow. That's something that I want to see."

"Even when he's been angered, Megatron is still a dangerous adversary," Ratchet warned. He glared over at a piece of sparking equipment, which Bulkhead had destroyed earlier. "Waiting isn't going to sit well with any of us. That's why I'm going to have Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Arcee looking for possible Energon spikes and anything that might hint at the possible location of a Space Bridge. I've already sent Bumblebee out."

"Which explains why I didn't see him bringing in Raf when I woke up this morning," Matt noted. He frowned. "But if we can't find the Space Bridge...then what are we going to do?"

"We will have to come into contact with a Decepticon and force the information out of them," Miko declared, grinning.

"Let's not be hasty," Ratchet warned. "We have more of a chance in finding the Space Bridge than actually managing to capture a Decepticon and interrogate them. We will have to be patient."

"And find the _Nemesis_ and Optimus before Megatron does something," Bulkhead added grimly.

**_ Speaking of our amnesiac Autobot.... _ **

Maria let out a yawn as she awoke, uncurling and getting up from where she had been lying on the computer keyboard. She looked up at Orion, who was working at decoding a few entries.

The archivist paused upon feeling her gaze, and he turned to look at the Reploid as she came a little closer to get a better view of the screen. "Have a good recharge?"

"Yeah." Maria nodded to the screen. "Got anything more decoded?"

"Somewhat." Orion frowned slightly. "I've found some of my findings to be...confusing, however."

Maria frowned. She could sense the Cybertronian's confusion over the mental bond the Protocol had set up, but the Reploid wasn't able to discern the source of it. "What confuses you, Pax?"

"It appears as though some of these entries speak of Autobot casualties in the war." Orion picked up a black device and pressed a button on it, causing the schematic of a Cybertronian to appear. "There is a record of a scout with the designation 'Bumblebee' losing his voicebox during a confrontation with Lord Megatron. I...saw him before I can to arrive on this ship. He didn't appear as dangerous as the other Autobots who were with him." Orion shook his head. "He didn't look like he had even reached mature levels...."

"You mean, he wasn't an adult? A full grown Cybertronian?"

"Correct. It makes me wonder as to where the Autobots might have found him...or how they even convinced him to join their ranks."

"Hmmm...." Maria could feel that something was trying to surface at the back of her processor. Unfortunately, it couldn't completely reveal itself thanks to the Protocol, as Maria had already told Batman. However, she _could_ remember what her original plan for Orion was--to get him away from the Decepticons and back to his allies. "Do you think he might have joined them of his own free will?"

"It is possible. However, I believe that it is more likely that he was forced into the position." Orion frowned slightly. "And yet, there is something about the look that he gave me which I find...unsettling."

"Unsettling?" Maria looked over the schematic, whatever new-found knowledge she had in her processor slowly translating the Cybertronian data so that she could read it somewhat. "How so?"

"He seemed to carry some sort of...pleading look. Like he wanted me to recognize him." Orion shook his helm. "It could be a deception."

"If it really were a deception, he might have had some sort of...underlying emotion in his optics," Maria remarked. "No one can truly make it look like the emotions on their face is genuine when they're trying to lie. Unless they pretty much make their face void of emotion." Her eyes darted to a Cybertronian word written at the bottom of the schematic and lingered there for a moment before turning back to look at Orion. "Any idea who the archivist for the Autobots is?"

"From the looks of things, it appears to be multiple Autobots, but mainly one known as 'Prowl'." An odd look appeared in Orion's optics. "And it also appears as though Jazz is among them, as well...."

"Jazz? That's one of the many kind of music that humans listen to." Maria gave Orion a curious look, then realized that the Cybertronian appeared...saddened. "Did you...know this guy?"

"He and I worked in the Hall of Records together, back on Iacon," Orion replied. "To see him working with the enemy...."

Something pulled at Maria's core, and she decided to take a chance and do something. There was a collection of data codes that she had been working at deciphering for some time, now, and it looked like it was going to be something pretty interesting....

"He might have had a good reason for it." Maria looked the screen over as Orion deactivated the schematic. "That looks interesting....." The blue-eyed Reploid started to jump around on the keyboard, moving quickly from one foot to the other as she went.

"What are you--"

Maria did a backflip off the keyboard as Orion's gaze went from the Reploid to the screen in surprise.

"Another entry?" Maria didn't bother to respond as the red and cobalt mech scanned the data. "It appears Jazz wrote this one, as well...."

Maria looked over the Cybertronian text as it scrolled across the screen, mentally working at deciphering the writing so she could read it. While she could decipher the secret code, deciphering the Cybertronian style of writing was something else altogether. "It looked like some sort of report from a mission or something."

"Perhaps this will gain us some insight as to how the Autobots fight," Orion noted. His optics started to scan the text, Maria watching the Cybertronian with a curious gaze. Eventually, a small smile came upon the archivist's face, and -- much to Maria's surprise -- a quiet chuckle escaped from Orion.

"What? What is it?" Maria asked, curious.

"It seems that a pair of Autobots caused some trouble by doing something called a 'prank'," Orion noted. "Twins, none the less."

 _Twins? I didn't know that it was possible for Cybertronians to_ have _twins._

_It is quite a rare occurrence, but the AllSpark has been known to release one spark that has split into two before. It seems that these two in particular were known for being troublemakers._

Maria looked up at Orion in curiosity. "What did they do? Nothing too serious, I hope."

"No, nothing fatal -- they somehow managed to scare an Autobot named 'Red Alert' into thinking that there were creatures in the shadows that were out to get him. Then they painted themselves and other volunteers black and chased Red Alert throughout the halls of their base. It seems as though they were trying to strengthen morale."

Maria was amused by this, and let out a chuckle. "From the sound of it, this...Red Alert is a rather paranoid Autobot."

"Indeed." Orion frowned slightly. "However, what this speaks of does not fit with what Lord Megatron has said of the Autobots. These twins...they don't sound like warriors ready to kill at a moment's notice."

 _Well, I've been in battle, and I'm not a battle-hardened Reploid. Maybe they didn't get out all that often -- or their personalities naturally put them as pranksters._ Maria felt like there was a slight inkling of familiarity concerning the antics of these two Autobots, but seeing as no one with a such a personality had shown up on Earth, the Reploid wasn't quite sure as to who they were.... "There must be more to these Autobots than what Megatron lets on."

Orion gave Maria a curious look, then looked back at the computer screen for a moment. "Do you think...that it's possible that some of these Autobots are here? Ratchet and Bumblebee are confirmed, but there were those other three...."

"I'm only guessing, but the Cybertronians probably initiated a mass exodus," Maria noted. "They could have gone to other corners of the universe -- meaning that your friend Jazz could still be out there."

"Perhaps," Orion agreed. He started to look through the other files again...then paused. "I am sensing something from you...distrust against Megatron, and...trust for Ratchet? How can this be?"

Maria stiffened upon hearing Orion's words, the Protocol prompting her to give the Cybertronian a truthful answer -- at least, as truthful as possible in the current situation.

"I have...met...Ratchet," she admitted reluctantly.

Orion's optics widened. "When? How?"

"I...kinda stumbled upon their Earth-bound base in my travels."

"And they didn't destroy you on sight?" Orion was shocked by this.

"No, they didn't. Why? What did Megatron tell you about them, Pax?"

Orion looked over at the computer screen for a moment before looking back at the Reploid. The Cybertronian then stated, "He said that they were dangerous marauders, and called Ratchet 'the Doctor of Doom'. I cannot imagine Ratchet going on a mad quest for power, as Lord Megatron recalled...."

"How long have you known Ratchet?" Maria was somehow able to hold down the laugh that was trying to bubble up. Doctor of Doom? Really?

"For most of my life. He...was a good friend, like Jazz."

"Did he ever act as though he might have had secret thoughts of killing people?"

Orion looked a little confused by this, frowning as he turned away from the small figure slightly. Maria noticed that he was somehow able to block off his end of the mental connection, so that the Reploid wouldn't be able to sense whatever emotions were going around in the Cybertronian's processor.

Eventually, Orion stated, "No. He did not."

"If he never showed such tendencies as a good friend, I doubt he would have ever developed such tendencies."

"You seem so certain."

"Friends that you consider close hardly ever keep secrets from those they spend their free time with. If they manage to keep big secrets that can cause harm, I wouldn't consider them friends." Maria sat down beside the keyboard and crossed her legs Indian-style. _There's no way that Ratchet became this 'Doctor of Doom' that Megatron spoke of, if you and he were close friends before the war._

Orion frowned slightly. _You sound so certain._

 _Because I am. When I saw Ratchet...he wasn't the kind of Cybertronian who would destroy something without a second thought. Something in me told me that, if I ended up becoming damaged in any way, I could trust him to help repair whatever parts that needed repairing._ Maria thought for a moment before deciding to try something. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on a specific memory.

::Ratchet! Maria! Are you two awake? This is an emergency!::

_Maria looked up from the Ground Bridge controls, as did Ratchet, what appeared to be a giant human wrench in the Cybertronian's hand. They looked over at the computer screen, catching sight of Fowler's rather annoyed face._

::What is it, Agent Fowler?:: _Ratchet greeted._ Maria quickly muted out the next part of his question, so as not to make Orion too suspicious.

::It's....attacking the same base with the power source they want::

::It's that Space Bridge again:: _Bulkhead noted as he, Bumblebee, and Arcee came over. Arcee said something, as did Maria, but those statements were blotted out, as well._

 _Ratchet activated the controls and turned on the Ground Bridge. ::_ Roll out. All four of you, go::

Maria cut the memory short, opening her eyes to look up at Orion. The shock on his face was evident.

"You...worked with the Autobots? And they work with humans?" Maria sensed a large wave of confusion from the Cybertronian. "Would they not have attacked them and destroyed their cities? Killed thousands?"

"Ratchet isn't like that."

"How can you be certain?"

"Because he never harmed the humans that they let into the base."

Orion's optics widened even further. "What--?"

_I'll show you._

Maria closed her eyes again and brought up her own memories of interacting with the Autobots. For one reason or another, they were pretty spotty--especially when their leader came into view--but something told the blue-eyed Reploid that it was going to be more than enough.

Maria looked up at Orion again, who appeared slightly amused, but still confused.

"I saw Ratchet acting more like the mech that I knew," the archivist noted. He frowned slightly, his left servo moving up to his chin in a motion that Maria knew well--the giant mech was thinking. "However, something does not seem right here...someone isn't telling the truth."

Maria felt a snarky response try to bubble up, but she held it down; Orion needed to come to this decision himself, not because of the knowledge she carried. Learning of Megatron's treachery because of that would make him deny everything she said afterwards.

"I know what I saw," Maria stated with conviction. "Those were straight from my memory banks, even if they were a bit fuzzy in some places."

"I believe you, but--" Orion stopped himself as the door behind them opened. Maria looked over at the door, her eyebrows arching in surprise.

 _It looks like we have company,_ the Reploid mentally noted, jumping to her feet.

Orion turned to see who had just arrived, only for his optics to widen when four Energon cubes were dropped and the figure armed himself with missiles that were hidden in his arms.

"Wh-what is this?! Optimus Prime -- here?!" the winged Cybertronian exclaimed, startled.


	21. Chapter 21

Orion frowned, looking over the rather defensive figure standing in front of him. "I am not a Prime. Why is it that I have been mistaken for one twice in two cycles?"

Maria watched the winged figure's red optics move around the room quickly, pausing on Orion's arm, where the Decepticon symbol had been placed, and then on Maria. The Reploid's own eyes widened upon seeing the dent on one of the figure's wings, and it looked like the wing was rather sore because of it.

As her blue eyes moved over the figure, someone's statement came to mind...something about hitting a Cybertronian with an energy attack and leaving a dented wing in the process?

"My apologies. Clearly, I thought you were someone else." The mech reluctantly lowered his missiles, his wings seeming to twitch slightly with the movement. "Who are you, then?"

"I am Orion Pax, and this is Maria White," Orion stated. He motioned to the Reploid on the keyboard behind him, prompting Maria to nod in greeting.

"A human? Or a Mini-Con Pretender?"

"Neither. I am a Replicating Android, created by humans with a free will of my own." Maria sensed Orion take note of her near-emotionless state again, but he didn't glance back or say anything in response to it.

The winged Cybertronian gave Maria another look. "So, humans can create drones, can they?"

Maria bristled. "Call me a drone and that dented wing is going to get _worse_. I am _not_ something that can be mass-produced so easily."

The figure held his servos up, an amused -- yet also nervous -- look on his faceplate. "All right, all right! You're not a drone." He lowered his arms and took another look around. "And, pray tell, what are you doing here?"

"Decrypting these files for Lord Megatron."

The intruder's eyes widened at Orion's words, shock being at the forefront. "You...can do such a thing?"

Orion nodded, then frowned. "You are...Starscream, correct?"

The figure's red optics instantly narrowed. "Yes?"

"Lord Megatron told me you had been...terminated."

Maria blinked for a moment upon hearing Orion's hesitation. It was definite that the mech didn't prefer to think of others of his kind as dead. Yet again, something about this mech told her that Starscream would be better off dead.

"Lord Megatron says many things, some of which might not be true." Starscream had a sly smile on his face.

"You would not mean to say that our leader would speak falsehoods?"

The Seeker let out a laugh. "They've really kept you two in the dark, haven't they?"

Maria's eyes narrowed. "I am not as naive as you think I am."

"The both of you speak in riddles," Orion noted. Turning to look at Starscream, he stated, "Please, tell us what you know."

"And in return?" Starscream looked like he could sense a deal coming on. Before Maria or Orion could say anything, however, the door opened, and a pair of Vehicons dashed in.

"Starscream! Surrender!" one of them barked.

The Seeker, thinking cowardly, dove behind Orion, who looked behind him in surprise, then at the two Vehicons, who looked like they were ready to shoot at him.

"Hold your fire!" Orion and Maria yelled in unison. This forced the two Vehicons to momentarily lower their weapons by a fraction. Starscream took advantage of this hesitation and barreled out from behind Orion, pushing him forward as the Seeker dashed out the door, transformed, and flew down the corridor.

The two Vehicons dashed after him. One turned around and stated, "Orion, return to your workstation."

"But I --"

"Lord Megatron's orders." The door was shut.

Maria and Orion stared at the door for a moment, before exchanging glances.

"Something...doesn't seem right within the Decepticons," Orion noted.

"Yeah. Starscream is declared dead and he shows up looking for something substantial." Maria motioned to the cubes on the floor for evidence. "If he were a ghost, he wouldn't have been able to grab this stuff."

"Ghost?"

"The spirit of a living creature that refuses to move onto the afterlife and makes it a point to haunt and scare anyone who comes near them." Maria shrugged. "They're creatures that appear in human myths all the time, and they're unable to grab anything in the physical realm -- so Starscream definitely isn't dead." A picture appeared in her mind of a Starscream with a wispy tail instead of legs, moaning and groaning like some sort of zombie.

The Reploid shook her head, and the picture was gone. "Who's this Optimus Prime guy, anyway?" There was knowledge that did want to bubble up and tell her, but the Protocol prevented it from fully revealing itself.

"I am...unsure," Orion replied, not noticing Maria's annoyance at the blocked-off knowledge. "But I was mistaken for him by one of the Autobots, and now by Starscream. Perhaps the Decepticon files have something on this."

He was about to look it up when the door opened a second time, and a pair of Vehicons came in and started to collect the Energon cubes. As soon as they had left, Megatron walked into the room.

"Hello, Orion, Maria," Megatron greeted, his voice sounding like the deceptive silk it was. "I trust the recent disturbance didn't... _harm_ you in any way?"

"No," Orion replied. "But why did you tell me that Starscream was dead?"

 _Straight to the point,_ Maria mentally noted, nodding in agreement.

"He is dead to our cause," Megatron responded. "A traitor who now sides with the Autobots. I hope he...did not disturb you?"

Orion paused a moment, before stating, "No."

Megatron's gaze went from Orion to Maria for a moment, then went back to the archivist. "Good. Now, how about we forget this entire incident, and you get back to your project." He turned and started to walk out the door.

"As you command, Lord Megatron."

The Decepticon paused upon hearing Orion's words, then continued out of the room, the door closing behind him.

 _You are a terrible liar,_ Maria thought bluntly as she turned to look back at the computer screen.

 _And you believe he noticed,_ Orion noted, going over the files again.

 _I find it highly likely. If Starscream claims that Megatron can speak falsehoods, he can also identify falsehoods._ Maria walked over to the screen looked back at Orion. _I'm kinda curious about this Optimus Prime guy. Do you think the Decepticons have any files on him?_

 _It is possible._ Orion took in a breath to calm himself, then muttered. "All right. Optimus...Prime." He quickly typed the name in, and a schematic appeared on the screen of a Cybertronian in a large amount of armor.

"Starscream reminded you of this guy?" Maria asked, motioning to the schematic.

"And it says that _he_ is the leader of the Autobot rebels, not Ratchet...." Orion frowned. "Someone isn't telling the truth."

** Back with the Autobots.... **

Matt looked up from a comic book he had borrowed from Jack as Bulkhead came through the Ground Bridge.

"No Energon spikes," the Autobot reported to Ratchet. "No sign of that Space Bridge, either."

Bulkhead looked around and caught sight of Matt on the couch. "Has anyone else had any luck?"

"Nope." Matt let out a sigh. "Arcee found a couple small shards of Energon, but she didn't find anything that hinted at a mine being anywhere nearby, much less a Bridge."

Ratchet shook his helm. "Let's just get you moving to the next quadrant." He turned to the Ground Bridge controls when a sudden beeping caught his attention.

"What's that?" Bulkhead asked as the medic rushed over to the computers.

"It's a high-frequency signal, with an imbedded message," Ratchet replied, not bothering to glance back as Bulkhead approached to look over the medic's shoulder. "And it's addressed...to me?"

"Is it Optimus?" Bulkhead asked, hopeful.

Ratchet pressed a few keys, revealing the message and its sender. "Starscream!"

Matt dropped the comic book and jumped up off the couch. "Megatron's second-in-command? Really?"

" _Former_ second-in-command," Ratchet corrected, glancing back before returning his attention to the computer screen. "He wants a medical kit, and he claims to have information on Optimus. He also wants me to come alone...."

"Well, what are we going to do?" Bulkhead asked.

The red and white medic looked over at the Wrecker. "Can you man the Ground Bridge while Matthew and I go to Starscream's location?"

"Wait -- you want _me_ to go with you?" Matt was shocked. "Bulkhead would be much more capable in this sort of thing!"

"But you do not know how to man the Ground Bridge," the medic retorted. "And I will not leave the base in your hands just yet."

Matt let out a sigh. "Just because Raf and the others were forced to go away on an overnight field trip doesn't mean you can become all grumpy about leaving me here unattended."

"Regardless, I believe your presence might be able to get information out of Starscream more easily than Bulkhead's." Ratchet activated the Ground Bridge and came over to the platform, holding out a servo in order for the other-worlder to climb on. Matt reluctantly obliged, sitting down Indian-style on the open palm.

"All right. Let's just get this over with."

Ratchet nodded, then walked through the Ground Bridge, appearing in a forest at dusk. Starscream was leaning against a small, rocky outcropping, desperately trying to stop an Energon leak in one of his legs.

The Con looked up, optics widening upon seeing who Ratchet was carrying. "I told you to come alone!"

"Where's Optimus?" Ratchet demanded. "Is he all right?"

"He was fine -- can't you see that I'm the one who's wounded and with a dented wing?!" Starscream glared at Matt. "Your little trick has cost me _so_ much maneuverability."

"And I will do it again if you don't cough up something we can actually use," Matt replied, eyes narrow. He had heard enough from Jack and the others about Starscream that he knew the Seeker wasn't to be entirely trusted.

"I agree with Matthew. The information first." Ratchet's optics narrowed as he glared at Starscream.

"Fine. It seems as though your leader has lost his senses. He thinks he is a Decepticon and goes by the name of Orion Pax." Starscream appeared pretty proud by this bit of intel.

"We know that already," Ratchet stated dismissively.

Starscream's red optics widened. "WHAT?! How could you have possibly known that?"

"Do you have anything else of use, Starscream?" Matt growled.

"There's this human-sized figure in there with him -- some sort of femme creature that claims to be a machine."

"Know that, too." Matt stood up and held his left hand out, palm up, summoning an Aura Sphere. "How about you give us something useful, like the location of Megatron's base?"

Starscream let out a short laugh. "It's a ship. It moves. It took me months to track, only to get me fired upon!" He motioned to his leg for evidence.

Matt and Ratchet exchanged glances.

"This is a waste of our time," Matt stated.

Starscream's face gained a helpless, pleading look. "No, wait! Please! I-I'm leaking here!"

"You can rust for all I care," Ratchet replied bitterly. "Unless you can tell us the location of the Decepticon Space Bridge--"

"Space...Bridge?" Starscream's optics widened as realization dawned on his face. "Are you meaning to tell me that they finished it without _my_ supervision?!"

Matt and Ratchet exchanged glances, a smirk appearing on the human's face.

"I'll fix your leg _if_ you tell us the coordinates of the Space Bridge," Ratchet stated.

"And if I don't?" Starscream asked cheekily.

The Aura Sphere Matt had been holding hit the rocky cliff next to Starscream's helm. "The next one goes through your other wing."

The Seeker gulped.


	22. Chapter 22

Maria's gaze was going over the Autobot files they had decrypted -- and had yet to decrypt -- when Orion suddenly asked, "Maria?"

"What is it, Pax?" The Reploid looked away from the computer screen to look up at the concerned look Orion had on his face.

"I want you...to try and download the files into your system." The archivist looked at her expectantly. "Can you do that?"

"Possibly. I think it depends on how much data there is and how much free space I've got in my processor." Maria looked over the computer screen for a moment, her processor doing a large amount of supercomputer-equivalent math in her head. "I probably could. It will take me some time, however."

"Do it."

Maria's eyes widened upon hearing so much conviction in the archivist's voice, then nodded as the Protocol moved into action, preparing to upload the files Orion wanted. "All right."

The blue-eyed Reploid grabbed a corner of the computer screen with her left hand, which started to pulse a soft white glow. "Download initiated. Estimated time of completion...three Earth minutes." She closed her eyes as her form became still.

Orion nodded, then started to look over the data on the screen as a progress bar appeared in the corner Maria was holding onto. "I am curious about Optimus Prime. Maybe there was something that I overlooked...."

_Just don't touch the files Megatron wanted decrypted. Any change, and it will end up taking longer to download._

Orion brought up the schematic of the Autobot leader again, looking over the figure carefully. A frown appeared on his face. "Something doesn't seem right...." He started to type quickly. "Why are the Decepticon files so heavily encrypted?"

_They mustn't want anyone to try and get a good look at their files._

_Still...why encrypt the files that they keep here, where only Decepticons can access it?_ Orion's frown deepened as he continued to wear away at the encryptions, trying to find what it was that was being kept hidden.

_I agree. Something definitely isn't right._

The archivist nodded absently and pressed another key, stopping upon seeing the Cybertronian on the screen shatter into pixels, reforming into something -- or someone -- else. Orion's optics widened upon seeing what was taking the place of the other schematic just moments before.

_What is it? I can sense your shock, Orion -- what do you see?_

_It's impossible.... How can_ I _be Optimus Prime?_

There was a beeping noise as Maria let go of the computer screen. "Download complete." She moved to stand in front of the screen, looking over the schematic with curious eyes. "How indeed?" She looked over at Orion. "Do you have a twin brother?"

The Cybertronian shook his head. "No, I do not. To have a twin at all is rare -- for them to be identical is impossible." _Would this explain...._

Maria frowned as Orion's thoughts trailed off. _Explain what?_

_I have...felt like there is something missing. Is it possible that something happened to me while I was in stasis? Some sort of...second Spark residing within me?_

Maria snorted. _Ridiculous. If such a thing occurred, it would have most likely tried to force its way out by now._

Orion removed the schematic from the screen, then turned to look fully at Maria. "You know more than you are letting on about me." A pleading look appeared in his optics. "Please, I must know -- who am I?"

Maria closed her eyes for a moment and took in a breath. The Reploid knew that she had to answer the archivist with the truth, but she doubted that Orion was going to be prepared for what she knew of Optimus Prime.

The brown-haired teen opened her eyes again and looked up at Orion Pax, then gave a nod. "All right. I'll show you some of what I know." Maria's blue eyes closed again, and the Reploid went through her memory banks, showing Orion--without any sort of noise--interacting with the Autobots and humans who had come and gone through the base. The memories went backwards from when Maria had last seen Optimus, and ended with the leader of the Autobots transforming in front of Nightwing and herself.

When Maria was done going through the memories, she looked up at Orion, whose optics were wide with what he had just taken in.

"I-impossible...are you telling me the truth?"

"The Protocol makes it so that I can't when asked a direct question by the person who spoke the code." Maria glanced back at the computer for a moment, then returned her gaze to Orion. "I sensed another presence in the system when I was uploading the files into myself. I think we are being watched...."

The door opened, and a pair of Vehicons strode in, followed by Megatron and a faceless, purple and black Decepticon with some rather spiky headgear.

_...in more ways than one._

"How is your project on Project Iacon, Orion?" Megatron asked smoothly.

"It seems I am a...bit rustier than I thought," Orion replied calmly, with a slight moment of hesitation. Maria could sense a small amount of panic coming from the archivist, and could clearly tell that the archivist was lying.

"Maybe that is because of your after-hours research?" Megatron pressed a key, revealing the schematic of Optimus Prime, as well as the report Jazz had written on the twins and Red Alert. "Perhaps it would be better if you went back to your real work."

Orion looked Megatron over, Maria mentally pointing out the sneering look in silver mech's optics that caused the archivist's circuits to freeze up a little.

"Two Cybertronians have already mistaken me for a Prime within that last two cycles." Orion regained his pleading look as he repeated the question he had asked Maria not too long ago: "I need to know -- who am I?"

"You are my clerk," came Megatron's curt reply. "And you will decrypt those files from Iacon."

Orion frowned and turned to look at the computer, then glanced over at Megatron. Maria carefully edged away from the Con leader as Orion stated, "No. I'd rather destroy my findings than let you or anyone else use them." He pressed a key, essentially deleting everything on the computer, leaving behind a silhouette of the Decepticon symbol.

Maria stopped moving when she had essentially reached the side of Orion that didn't have Megatron standing by it. Catching sight of a glint in Megatron's optics, she mentally noted, _I don't think that did anything good...._

As if to prove her point, Megatron pressed another key, bringing back the data Orion had just deleted.

"Didn't you think that we would be closely monitoring and documenting every iota that you discovered? Or copied?" He looked around Orion at where Maria stood, earning a narrow-eyed glare from the Reploid.

A sudden beeping came from the faceless Decepticon, and a picture of a metal appeared on his black visor.

"What is it, Soundwave?" Megatron turned and looked at the screen. His optics widened. "One of our sentries on Cybertron was activated?"

"You told me that Cybertron was _dead_!" Orion exclaimed, startled.

"That doesn't matter. You _will_ finish Project Iacon, Orion Pax." Megatron summoned his sword right in front of the archivist. "Or I will tear out your Spark before your very eyes." He retracted his sword and walked out of the room with Soundwave, leaving the two Vehicons behind.

Maria and Orion exchanged a wary glance.

 _So much for going to the Autobots,_ Orion noted, turning to look back at the computer screen.

_I wouldn't think that so soon, Pax. There are still my defense programs. I can buy you a little time in order to get to the nearest exit to this place --_

_'This place' is a ship, Maria. I doubt that I would be able to survive the fall to Earth from this height._

_Well, we_ _still have to do something! Ratchet's down there, and he's_ really _worried about you._

"What are you waiting for, Pax?" One of the Vehicons took a step forward. "Get to work already."

Orion looked over at Maria with a curious look, then turned to face the two Vehicons, whose forms got into a battle stance. "I do not believe that using this data against the Autobots would be in our best interest, and that it will do more harm than good. We can warn them."

The two Vehicons looked at each other, then back at Orion. A moment later, they had tripped the archivist and proceeded to kick him.

Maria's eyes widened upon seeing the Vehicons' actions. The Protocol moved her to fight the purple and silver mechs in order to defend Orion, and she quickly moved to do so.

"All right, that's IT! Defense programs are active, NOW!" A fiery sphere expanded from her, surrounding Orion and forcing the two Vehicons back.

_My Fire Shield._

_Very handy._ Orion started to get up slowly.

 _Thank you!_ Maria activated her hoverboard and flew forward, staying near Orion's left shoulder. _Let's get of of here before Megatron decides to keep his word._

 _Agreed. But...how are we to get past them?_ Orion's optics went over the two Vehicons, who were banging against the shield in an attempt to get at the mech and Reploid on the other side.

_I could melt them, but it would probably take a lot of energy._

Melt _them? How is that possible?_

 _I've been in battle. I've had a lot of practice with the abilities I've gained over the years through upgrades._ Maria flinched a little as the Fire Shield started to flicker. _I won't be able to keep the shield up for much longer. Do you want me to try and take them out or not?_

Orion's optics narrowed as he watched the Vehicons. _Just knock them out._

_Right._

Maria took off from her position next to Orion's shoulder and started to charge up a Fire Sphere as the Fire Shield started to become more unstable. "Take this! Double Fire Sphere!" Maria blasted the two Vehicons as the shield came down, sending them back into two separate corners of the room.

Looking over at Orion, she stated, "We're going to have to move fast. There are most likely going to be others coming after us."

"Others?"

"You didn't think we'd be able to get out of here without being noticed, did you?" Maria glanced back at the computer. "Either we stay here and decode what else is in these files, or we try and get out of here and get the data that I've got in my systems to the Autobots."

Orion's gaze flickered to the Vehicons for a moment. "I believe there can be only one choice." He looked back at Maria. "We need to get out of here. Now."

Maria nodded. "Then let's move."

**Meanwhile....**

"The Decepticon Space Bridge is located right here, in an Energon mine," Ratchet stated, motioning to a location on the computer screen behind him.

"Near a raw energy source," Arcee noted. "Just as Maria predicted."

"Where'd you get the intel?" Jack asked.

"A... _reliable_ source." Matt grinned over at Ratchet from the platform, and the medic nodded in agreement.

"Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and I will infiltrate the mine," Ratchet continued. He tossed a small device up into the air and caught it. "This scrambler will keep communications down, so you won't be able to contact us until we tell you we have the Bridge."

"Which will be your cue to Ground Bridge to their location so that you can get to Cybertron," Matt added, nodding to Jack. "You have the suit Fowler promised he'd get?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah. State of the art, just like he said."

"I still don't think it's completely safe for you to go to another planet," Mrs. Darby remarked from where she stood on the platform beside her son.

"And why can't I go?" Miko asked, annoyed.

"I will need you to assist Raf in using the Ground Bridge and monitoring communications," Ratchet replied sternly. "The same goes for you, Matthew."

Miko frowned, then turned and stopped off for the couch, muttering, "Can't go on a commando mission, can't go to Cybertron...."

"You sneak off all the time," Raf replied. "You've seen more action than any of us! And now it's Jack's turn."

Matt nodded in agreement. Turning to look at Ratchet, he stated, "We'll keep an eye on Miko so that she doesn't try anything. Good luck, Ratchet."

Ratchet nodded, then activated the Ground Bridge. "Roll out."


	23. Chapter 23

Maria peered around the corner of a corridor carefully, catching sight of a pair of Vehicons patrolling. _There's two up ahead, just like before._

_Do you think I can --_

_Orion, we tried that with the last three pairs. I doubt that these two will listen to reason, either._

There was a grunt from the Cybertronian, causing the Reploid to turn and look at her friend. "Something wrong?"

"I have an itch in my servos," Orion stated. "It does not feel like anything that will simply --" There was the sound of metal moving, and the archivist's optics widened upon seeing what had come of it.

"I'm...armed?" Orion looked over the strange guns that had taken the place of his servos with alarm.

"It seems there is more to the connection between you and Optimus," Maria noted. She looked around the corner again, eyes widening upon seeing that the purple Vehicons were heading in their direction -- most likely attracted by the sound. "Do you think you can use those blasters to take them out?"

Orion looked from the guns to the Vehicons, nervousness clearly in his optics. "I am not even sure as to how to fire these."

"Pretend like you're squeezing a trigger," the Reploid suggested. "And aim it at them when you're doing that."

Orion frowned slightly, then did as the Reploid suggested, aiming what might have been his right servo at the Vehicons. A moment later, two shots were fired, both hitting the first Vehicon and sending him skidding across the floor. This prompted the other Vehicon to draw his blaster and start firing at Orion, who quickly moved back behind the wall.

"How did--"

Maria held up her right hand, morphing it into a cannon-like weapon. "This is called a Buster. It's a standard weapon for all Reploids of my specific line." She walked around the corner, aimed her weapon, and fired at the Vehicon's legs, tripping the Decepticon drone. A moment later, she fired off a few more shots making sure that the Vehicon was out of it. Maria turned to look back at Orion as her Buster morphed back into her hand. "There's only two others who can use it."

"Who?"

"A pair of boys named Rock and Blues -- I consider them to be my older brothers." Maria motioned for Orion to move down the hall. "We have to keep moving. I doubt this corridor will be empty for long."

"R-right." Orion started forward, Maria activating her jets so as to keep up with his quick gait. _What have you been forced to fight against, Maria?_

_There are many humans down on Earth who are power-hungry and not afraid to cause casualties in order to get to what it is that they want. I help with keeping them at bay and from harming civilians. There are others who have done this for much longer, however._

_Others? You mean, more Reploids?_

_No. Just as there are power-hungry humans, there are humans who see themselves as guardians over their own kind. They have even managed to call in the help of other humanoid species from other planets -- like the green-skinned Martians, from Mars, or the remnants of the race of Kryptonians._

Orion almost stopped short at this. _Kryptonians? Here?_

_Yes -- a mech and his femme cousin. There is even a clone of the mech that was created by scientists -- but the mech didn't know of it until a group of teens that he worked with managed to break the clone out. The mech is known as "Superman" by the humans, but his true name is Kal-El. The femme is "Supergirl," but she is Kara Zor-El. The clone is "Superboy," but also Kon-El, as he is Kal-El's clone -- his technical son, if you will._

_Incredible...to think that a species that had once interacted with Cybertronians during the Golden Age live here, on Earth. Do they know about the Autobots?_

_Kon has already interacted with them, but Kal and Kara have yet to meet them properly. I can arrange for a meeting after we get off this ship._ Maria flew in front of Orion, stopping the archivist. When the Cybertronian was about to ask why they had stopped, he heard a familiar voice somewhere up ahead.

"My Space Bridge is locked onto Cybertron...and remains open. Those Autobot fools must want their leader desperately if they wish to try a risky move like this. Soundwave, prepare a Ground Bridge."

 _Uh oh...._ Maria's eyes were wide. _Orion, can you retract your guns for a moment?_

 _Retract them? How--_ There was a soft whirring noise as Orion's servos returned.

_I remember distinctly that Optimus carried a pair of swords in his arms. I want to see if you can pull them out._

_Swords? First guns, now --_ A pair of blades came out of Orion's arms, just above his servos. _Maria, you knew about this? Why is one of these broken?_

_Yes, I did know about them, and I think you broke it in a previous battle._

_Who was I fighting against?_

_...I am not sure. Perhaps an enemy, perhaps a rock-based incarnation of Unicron._

Orion was _definitely_ shocked to hear that. _Unicron?! Do you speak the truth?_

 _Yes._ Maria moved forward and checked what was around the corner, catching sight of Soundwave standing alone in front of a group of computers. _Do you wish to go and assist the Autobots now, Pax?_

_....._

Orion frowned and looked over at the other side of the corridor, blocking the mental connection he had with Maria for a moment. When he looked back at Maria, there was a determined look in his optics as the swords were retracted. _Let's go._

Maria nodded, then landed on Orion's shoulder as the archivist walked out into the bridge...capturing the attention of the Vehicons walking around below. Most of them readied their blasters, but not one of them moved.

 _They're waiting for a command,_ Maria noted as Orion came to a stop not too far from Soundwave, whose back was turned.

 _Let us hope they do not get one,_ the archivist responded. _How do you recommend getting Soundwave's attention?_

_I have something in mind. Permission to follow through?_

_...Granted. But be careful._

Maria smirked as she looked at the back of the Con's head. "Hey, Faceless! We need a Ground Bridge to the Space Bridge -- stat!" Maria could sense the alarm coming from Orion, but merely sent back her amusement and eagerness to get going.

Soundwave turned his helm to look at them, then turned around fully and stood still. Maria felt like the Con was trying to stare directly into her soul, but she held her ground, giving the Cybertronian a calm look.

When Soundwave suddenly lashed out with a pair of tentacles, Maria had already put up a Fire Shield to deflect the attack.

"Two can play at that game," the Reploid stated, grinning, ignoring Orion's increasing surprise. She summoned a Fire Sphere and threw it at Soundwave, then started to use them rapid-fire against the Con, while he dodged easily.

Maria's eyes narrowed, her right hand forming into her MegaBuster. "All right, Soundwave. You're really asking for it! Take this!" A charged shot of blue energy was fired, hitting the Decepticon in the chest, causing sparks to go off in every direction. "That was only a stun shot. Don't make me go into White Flare mode just to get a Ground Bridge."

_White Flare mode?_

_Really powerful attack that takes a lot of energy. I use it when I get_ really _annoyed or angry._

Soundwave stood there for a moment, seeming to stare at the two. A moment later, data points appeared on the screen he had for a face, plotting out coordinates and choosing a spot on the grid globe that was at neither end of its axis. Maria could feel the ticklish sensation of a scan go over her -- it seemed to be coming from Soundwave -- right before a Ground Bridge opened in front of the Con.

Maria nodded in approval. "Thank you, Soundwave." _Let's go._

Orion nodded, then stepped forward into the Ground Bridge, reappearing in what appeared to be a mine of some sort.

Maria looked around, frowning. "I hope Soundwave didn't trick us...."

"After what you did? I doubt he would." Orion started to stride forward, looking around for anything that hinted at their location. "Soundwave was a gladiator who nearly lost his face and voicebox in a fight against Megatron, and swore fealty to him at the end of the match. He's been training under Megatron for some time, from the looks of things, and it seems that you impressed him with your fighting skills."

Maria was about to say something in response to this, but there was the sudden sound of metal clashing against metal up ahead, and she stiffened.

Orion gave the Reploid on his left shoulder a curious look. "Are you all right?"

"Hm?" Maria looked at the archivist. "I'm fine. It's just that it sounds like Megatron's already making quick work of the Autobots...." She sent worry over the mental connection, and gained worry in return. "We'd better find out where they are before _he_ finishes them off...."

Orion nodded. "Agreed." He strode forward, Maria gripping the Cybertronian's armor in order to keep her balance.

It didn't take too long to find Megatron and the Autobots -- all Orion had to do was walk around a corner in the tunnel, and they were standing in front of a purple-shaded platform that had the Space Bridge on the other side, wide open. In front of it was Megatron, his sword out. To either side of the platform were the unconscious forms of three Autobots, one among them being Ratchet.

"Come on, Arcee," Megatron murmured. "Come to me that I might end the line of Primes."

Orion's optics narrowed. _Maria, make yourself scarce. I must face Megatron alone._

Maria smirked. _Just like Optimus...._ She activated her Light Refractor and moved off Orion's shoulder, staying in the air by way of her hoverboard as she looked for a place to retreat to.

"I cannot allow you to do this, Megatron," Orion called out, stepping forward.

Megatron turned away from the Space Bridge and let out a short laugh. "You? Stop me? Orion Pax, you are no Prime!"

"That may be true." Orion's fists clenched. "Or yet another deception?" He strode forward again. "I do know this, however: my Spark sides with the Autobots, and you are not one of us." He summoned his swords, then dashed forward, roaring.

The Decepticon leader was ready, however. He blocked Orion's attack with his sword arm and slammed a ready fist into the archivist's stomach.

Maria, standing behind one of the pillars of the platform, winced upon feeling the impact over the mental connection, a look of alarm crossing her face as she realized what was about to happen.

Winded, Orion collapsed, his swords retracting, Megatron sneering as he stood over him.

"Now to finish you off, that the Primes will never again rise!" The Decepticon raised his sword over his head dramatically, ready to slice through the archivist.

"NO! Defensive programs, active!" Maria zoomed out of her hiding place and placed a Fire Shield between Orion and Megatron, causing the sword to bounce off it harmlessly. "No one is dying today, _Buckethead_."

Orion looked up at the shield, his optics widening upon seeing who had put it there. Megatron, however, was angered as well as surprised.

"If you really want to fight, face me," Maria stated, crossing her arms over her chest.

Megatron let out a short laugh. "What makes you think you can defeat me?"

"I don't think. I _know_." The shield turned into a giant fireball, which was then thrown at Megatron, forcing the Decepticon back. "You have gotten me very close to White Flare mode by attacking the Peaceful One. Pax, stay here -- I'll keep him busy."

"But--"

"Relax. I've done things like this before." Maria flew after Megatron, her right hand turning into her MegaBuster.

"Have you, now?" Megatron asked as he reached out for the Reploid with his claws. Maria dodged quickly, however.

"Power up! Charged Shot!" There was an explosion as an orange ball of energy slammed into the Decepticon. In return, the silver mech let out a snarl and swung at Maria, but the Reploid avoided Megatron's sword without a problem and fired a second attack at the ex-gladiator. _Lesson one in combat:_ never _make the Reploid angry._

There was the sound of an engine, and a dark blue motorcycle suddenly slammed into Megatron's legs, transforming into a familiar Autobot, who hit the Con with an uppercut, sending him back a few feet.

"Arcee!" Maria exclaimed, delighted at seeing a familiar ally. "Are you here to help me kick this guy's can?"

"Definitely." Arcee dodged a charging Megatron, who was growling with rage. "What's with the new paint job?"

"I can't explain it right now, but I might do so later."

Maria felt a sudden build-up of energy on Orion's end of the mental connection, and it was suddenly blocked off. A smirk appeared on her face as the Decepticon insignia on her shoulder was replaced with the Autobot one.

"It's started." The Reploid got rid of the Buster and charged up a Fire Sphere throwing it at Megatron right before Arcee started to fire at the Decepticon.

"What's started? And how do you know?" Arcee dodged a fired shot from Megatron's arm-mounted cannon, and Maria put up a Fire Shield and send the blast flying back at the Con.

The blue-eyed Reploid didn't answer, and instead glanced back at the Space Bridge and took in the scene that was taking place right in front of the Space Bridge: a small figure was holding something up to Orion, and a blue beam between the small figure and the chest cavity of the large mech.

Megatron caught sight of Maria looking back and let out a roar and charged at Orion. Arcee got in front of him in order to stop the Decepticon, only for the Autobot to get thrown back.

He almost reached the mech and the human -- causing Jack's eyes to widen in alarm -- only for a white Fire Shield to appear in front of Megatron.

"You won't disrupt this," Maria hissed from where she hovered in front of the Fire Shield, her eyes dangerously narrow. "I can guarantee that your life _will_ be shortened if you do." Her eyes flickered between their regular blue and a brighter, crystal-like shade -- very much like the color of an Autobot's optics.

Megatron glared at her, then powered up his arm cannon and prepared to blast the Reploid into oblivion. However, before he could even fire, he was suddenly blasted back by an ion blast.

Maria lowered the rest of the shield, nodding to Optimus in acknowledgement to the hole she had left open for his attack. She sensed a slight amount of muffled confusion from the Autobot, but it was outweighed by his determination to get Megatron out of his sight.

"Megatron." Optimus' battle mask slipped over his face as he brought back his right fist for a punch. "Begone!"

_CLANG!_

Megatron was forced back by the blow, sending him flying into a nearby support pillar, an act which Maria sensed the Prime felt satisfying...even if he did not completely know why.

"Maria, how did we arrive here?" Optimus asked, turning his gaze to the Reploid as the other Autobots started to get up from where they had been knocked back.

"It's a long story, Optimus," Maria replied. "One that I'll be more than happy to tell back at base."

:: _Ratchet! I'm reading five Autobot life signals down there!::_ Fowler sounded a little like he was holding excitement back. :: _Is Prime with you?::_

"And Jack and Maria," Arcee replied before Ratchet could. The group moved in front of the still-open Space Bridge as Vehicons started to pour into the area.

While Bulkhead and Bumblebee started to fire at the Vehicons, a Ground Bridge appeared beside the group -- to Ratchet's right.

"It's ours!" the medic told the others.

"Autobots, fall back!" Optimus ordered.

Arcee moved quickly, snatching Jack and barreling through the Ground Bridge. Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee followed, firing off a few more shots before disappearing.

Maria flew a short distance away from Optimus so that she could build up power for a short speed boost. "See you back in the base!" She zoomed toward the Ground Bridge on her hoverboard, knowing exactly what she had to do.


	24. Chapter 24

As soon as Maria was in the base, she flew over everyone's heads and made a beeline for the computers. Latching onto one of the screens, she yelled out, "Uploading Iacon files now! Do _not_ attempt to talk to me!"

Ratchet, who standing at the Ground Bridge's controls, gave the Reploid a startled look of surprise while Matt grinned at his sister's statement...at least until he saw what had happened to her armor.

"Oh, boy," he muttered. "Did Optimus say anything that sounded like a code?"

"No, I did not." Optimus stepped away from the Ground Bridge, prompting Ratchet to shut it down. A frown hovered on the Prime's face with momentary confusion. "Why?"

"Maria's got this...program in her systems," Matt explained. "If anyone speaks it, it kinda bonds her to that person for a little bit -- at least until the deactivation code is spoken." He looked over at Maria again. "If _you_ didn't say it, I'm guessing that Orion did."

Optimus frowned, then took notice of one of the Con symbols he had on his arms in place of the Autobot ones that had been there before Unicron's attack. "That, among other things, I do not remember."

"There." Maria backed away from the computers. "Sorry about doing that so quickly. The Iacon files were taking up so much room in my processor, I was worried that I might end up getting short-term memory loss." She rubbed the back of her head, letting out a sheepish chuckle.

"You found the--"

"Yup!" Ratchet was cut off by Maria's delighted response.

"So, what happened to your armor?" Raf asked. He, Jack, and Miko were standing with Matt on a platform next to the computers. "You look like Optimus!"

Maria looked down at her armor, a sheepish smirk appearing on her face as she maneuvered over to land on the platform with the humans. "It's...complicated."

"It's the code," Matt corrected, causing Maria to stiffen in surprise.

"You mentioned this...'code' before," Optimus noted, looking down at Maria's older brother. "How would it be that I would have known of it?"

Matt opened his mouth to answer, but Maria beat her brother to it.

"You came to know of it through contact with an unknown source," Maria stated somewhat grimly. "I tried to trace it as soon as I had realized what had happened, but the source has kept itself thoroughly hidden. If you still had your memories of your time as Orion in the Decepticons' base, I might have been able to identify it through the source's voice. However, that is going to be near-impossible now."

The Reploid sensed slight confusion from Optimus, but it was somewhat muffled for one reason or another. When she let out a huffing noise and crossed her arms over her chest, her annoyance increased enough to cause Optimus' confusion to increase by a minute amount.

"I also find it somewhat curious that the Protocol chose to make telepathic contact with the one who spoke the code this time around," Maria added.

"This time?" Raf repeated.

"You mean that it didn't happen when Captain America did it?" Matthew asked, blinking in surprise.

"You met _the_ Captain America?" Miko asked, surprised. A glowering look came over her face. "Lucky."

"How does one deactivate this Protocol?" Ratchet asked, frowning.

Maria glanced up at Optimus for a moment. When the Autobot gave the smallest of nods, the Reploid stated, "A spoken deactivation code."

_And that is....?_

_Protocol: Alpha-Beta: Deactivate._

Optimus paused for a moment, then spoke the code aloud. I response, Maria's armor brightly flashed for a moment before returning to its normal red, orange, and gray coloring.

The others present stumbled back a step or two in surprise -- except for Matt, Optimus, and Ratchet.

Maria stretched out her arms above her head, letting out a grunt as though she was stretching her spine. "Thanks."

"So, how did you get this code in you?" Raf spoke up again, looking down at Maria with a curious, interested expression.

Maria flinched a little in response to Raf's question. "It's...not a good story. Let's just say...that after Dr. Thomas Light of the MegaMan realm saved my life by transferring me into a robotic form, Dr. Wily saw me and decided that he wanted me on his side and decided to attempt to make that happen with what any roboticist might do if they _didn't_ know their target used to be human. It...it nearly ended who I was if it wasn't for a few friends stepping in. The Protocol is all that's left."

Those present gave various levels of flinching, looks of alarm and disgust on their faces.

"That sounds a lot like what happened in a MegaMan video game," Jack noted, speaking up first.

"Really?" Maria looked over at the black-haired teenager in surprise.

"Yeah. Everybody's been saying that it's just a glitch game, though, since it doesn't really fit with anything in their timeline over at Capcom."

Maria bristled a little. "And who thinks that my actions weren't canon? I didn't mess with the timeline any."

"They don't think that Light got his idea for Reploids from you."

"Oh, is _that_ all?" Maria crossed her arms over her chest and gave a huffing snort. "Sheesh, MegaMan fans are picky."

"You have _no_ idea," Miko muttered.

"While this is good to know, I'm wondering about what Optimus did up on the Decepticon's ship," Ratchet spoke up.

"Megatron decided to set him to work decoding the Iacon files," Maria explained. "It took a look into my memory banks and a surprise visit from Starscream to fully convince him he was in the wrong place. After having me download the files into my own systems, we hightailed it out of there." She frowned slightly. "If I remember correctly, Orion had managed to decrypt some of the entires before Arcee and I got in there, too."

"We must check the files in order to be certain," Optimus stated. He walked over to the computer and started to look through the files Maria had uploaded into the system.

"This could take some time," Ratchet noted. "If the entire Iacon database was uploaded into our systems, as you say they were, Maria, Optimus is going to be very busy."

"How did you get all that data into your processor, anyway?" Arcee asked.

"I had to compact the data so that it would fit directly into my memory banks," Maria replied. "It was the only free spot I had for it -- considering Dr. Light predicted I'm going to end up living a couple more hundred years or so...."

"A couple _hundred?_ " Matt stared at his sister in shock. "I'm going to be dead before you will!"

"He didn't know I _had_ siblings, Matt. What was I supposed to do -- ask him to downgrade my processing power? He'd think I was nuts! Besides, I can still be taken out by rust and such if I'm not too careful."

"Maria." Mrs. Darby walked over to Maria and Matt. "It's getting late. How about you come over to our home and spend the night?"

Maria was surprised by the offer. "Seriously? I wouldn't want to be a burden."

"Matt wasn't."

Maria rubbed the back of her head. "I dunno.... I mean, I've been off the Justice League's radar for a good two or three days, now. Batman's going to want me to report in or--"

"I think he can wait another day," Matt stated with a sly grin. "Come on." He slipped an arm over his sister's shoulders. "You need to get some rest after all that."

Maria looked like she was about to protest, but when she saw the expression that was in her brother's eyes, she relented and gave a slight nod. "All right. Rest does sound pretty good."

Mrs. Darby smiled knowingly. "Come on, then. I'm a little curious as to what exactly it is that forced this 'Dr. Light' to turn you into a robot rather than let you heal."

"Ah, well...." Maria rubbed the back of her head nervously as they started for Mrs. Darby's car. "I think I was a bit to reckless when I first got there, so...."

As Maria continued with the story, Jack came down and joined them, Arcee starting to shift down to her motorcycle mode. Maria couldn't help but get the feeling that they were going to be talking about a lot of different things back at the Darby house.

 


	25. Chapter 25

 It was about a week after Maria had returned to the Justice League before the Reploid heard of any Cybertronian-based activity going on anywhere on Earth.

"Maria! Some sort of signal's come up!"

The Reploid looked up from her chosen workstation at Gear, who was waving her over frantically.

"What kind of signal?" The blue-eyed teen put down the tools she had been using and closed up a panel on her left arm, then walked over to the Dakota teen.

"It's definitely Cybertronian," Gear stated, motioning to the screen on his laptop. When Maria and the Autobots had been keeping their eyes and ears peeled during the time Optimus had been missing, Gear had been working on upgrading his tech -- like buying the laptop and upgrading it to supercomputer standards. "And it's pretty close to where Superman, Superboy, and Supergirl are going on patrol right now."

"Really?" Maria looked over Gear's shoulder in order to have a look at the computer screen, which had a blip in the center of the screen that was constantly pulsing outward. Three similar S-shield symbols were positioned nearby, but not at all close to the Cybertronian signal that Gear had detected.

As soon as Maria took note of the coordinates that were also listed there in the bottom right corner of the computer's screen, her blue eyes widened.

"Do you think it would be all right if I went down there?" Maria asked, glancing at Gear curiously. "I'm starting to get bored just sitting around up here tweaking my communication system."

Gear gave her a shocked look. "Are you insane?! Batman hasn't even cleared you to leave the Watchtower yet!"

"Well, he'll just have to deal with it," Maria replied stubbornly. The red, orange, and gray-armored Reploid turned and started towards a device that looked like a glass cylinder that could hold two or three people of Maria's size. On the floor inside the cylinder, it looked like there was energy constantly pulsing through it.

"Besides," Maria added, stopping in front of the cylinder, "I'm not technically a part of this world, remember?"

"That may be, but I don't think it's a--"

"What are you two doing?" Batman strode over to the two seemingly from out of nowhere. His eyes were narrow, and he sounded accusing, like he always did.

"I need to get down there," Maria stated in a rather serious reply. The Reploid didn't even bother to turn around and look back at the Dark Knight. "Some sort of Cybertronian signal has come up, and I want to get down there in order to see what's going on. The Kryptonian Trio are already down there, but they may not know what they might be so close to."

Batman's eyes narrowed even further, and Maria turned slightly to glance back at the Gotham vigilante. The two of them locked eyes for a moment, while Gear looked back and forth between them, looking a little nervous.

Maria knew that the Dakota teen was probably worried about what Batman was going to do, but she wasn't too particularly concerned. Yes, she may have been considerably younger than the Dark Knight, but she hadn't just been experimenting with system upgrades for herself these past few days.

"All right. Fine."

Gear gave Batman a look of surprise while the Reploid simply cocked her head to one side.

"But I'm going to expect a report from you in case something comes up." Batman turned and walked out of the room and down another corridor without another word.

"Did he just...put you off the Team?" Gear asked, turning to look at Maria with some nervousness still present.

Maria shook her brown-haired head. "I think he just made me the Team's rep on the Autobot end." Seeing the look of surprise she was getting from the Dakota teen, the Reploid stated, "Well, what are you waiting for? Send me down there!" She turned and stepped into the glass cylinder, then turned around and gave Gear an impatient look.

Gear jumped. "Right!" He started to tap on his laptop furiously, the teleporter whirring to life. "If you ever need any help, you know who to call."

"I most certainly do," Maria replied with a grin.

There was a bright blue flash, and Maria found herself standing in a rocky area. It wasn't long before three familiar figures landed in front of her -- one of them being on a black hover board with the familiar "S" insignia stamped on the bottom.

"Bruce told me you were coming down," Superman noted. "What's the trouble?"

"Gear found a Cybertronian signal near here," Maria explained, motioning to the rocky area. "It's probably going to get attention from either the Bots or the Cons, and I want to make sure that it gets to the Bots."

"Do you have any idea what it is?" Supergirl asked.

Maria shook her head, then paused. "Well....You heard about what happened last week, right? When Optimus had amnesia?"

The Kryptonian Trio nodded as one.

"The coordinates of this location match one of the coordinates that Optimus unearthed when he was on the  _Nemesis._  It could be an ancient artifact from Cybertron...or a powerful weapon. I came down here to make sure that the Decepticons weren't trying to get their claws on it."

"And if there are Cons, then we have to go and kick some can, right?" Connor asked, cracking his knuckles and grinning.

"Yeah," Maria confirmed, grinning. She activated her own hover board by going into a backflip, landing on the piece of tech. "We're going to have to find the source of that signal quickly."

"I think we might have already found it," Supergirl replied, jabbing with her thumb in a direction behind her. "We passed over some sort of crater a while back, filled with those purple and silver robot things. Kal was going to swing back when he heard you were coming."

Maria nodded. "All right." She rose up into the air and took off in the direction Supergirl had pointed, the three Kryptonians following.

"Bruce said you're going to be staying with the Autobots," Superman stated as the flew. "He sounded pretty annoyed."

"I did try to leave without his permission," Maria admitted. "But I really felt like doing  _something,_  and being on Earth with the Autobots is better than sitting around in the Watchtower taking my left arm apart so I can give myself a communications upgrade." She held up mention arm, and a panel slid back, revealing a black screen. The panel slid back into place as the Reploid continued, "I'm glad that I managed to get it done, sure, but my feet were itching to get moving."

"I know the feeling!" Supergirl responded.

"We're here," Connor stated. He directed his hover board to head down to the ground below, Maria and the Kryptonian cousins following. "Something's happening down there, all right. Who's the silver guy with the spikes on his shoulders?"

"Megatron." Maria's eyes narrowed. "Go after the Vehicons first. That'll get his attention."

"Vehicons?" Superman repeated.

"The purple guys. They're the Decepticon cannon fodder, and are programmed to listen to Megatron and the others under his command -- nobody else." A fiery aura tried to appear around Maria for a moment, her power levels rising, but the Reploid forced it to dissipate with a shake of her head, directing the energy elsewhere. She cracked her knuckles -- even though, as a Reploid, she didn't have anything that might have caused the need to anymore -- and sped up her rate of descent, shooting ahead. "Cause as much damage as you can --  _without_ hitting the source of that signal or any Autobots that may end up showing up!"

"Got it!" Connor called back, grinning.

The group came upon the crater Supergirl had mentioned pretty quickly. As had been said before, there were plenty of Vehicons -- with Megatron among them -- but there were also two unexpected figures with red and white -- or red and cobalt -- armor. Maria was able to identify them almost instantly, but the others....

"Who're those two?" Supergirl asked, looking down.

Connor pointed to a pair of figures coming over the lip of the crater. "Those two? They're Autobots -- the good guys."

"Wow. I never thought that Cybertronians could be so big...."

:: _Oi! Introductions later! Take down Decepticons NOW!::_

The three Kryptonians flinched upon hearing Maria's mental yell over the comm-link. Below, there was an explosion from one of the giant, drill-like objects.

Connor's grin quickly returned. "This is going to be  _fun_." He jumped off his hover board -- the tech converting into a backpack that strapped to his back. The Kryptonian clone free fell the rest of the way down, landing on a Vehicon and bashing its head in as though it was made of paper.

"Nice one!" Maria exclaimed, catching the attention of more Vehicons. "All right, you. Let's see if this works!" She created a stream of fire, turning it into a whip as she flung it at a pair of the purple Cybertronians. It left a scorch mark across their chest plates, which were promptly broken after Connor bashed them in.

"New trick?" Connor asked, glancing over at the Reploid.

"Oh, yeah." Maria activated her jets -- deactivating her hover board in the process -- and zoomed over at a Vehicon, using her momentum to send it flying back into another Vehicon and a drill, setting off another explosion. "Hah! Take that!"

"Flare-Up, this isn't a game," Superman scolded as he floated down with Supergirl.

Maria's eyes widened, but they weren't focused on the Kryptonians. "Move, move, MOVE!"

She put up a Fire Shield behind them just as Megatron tried to send an energy blast in their direction.

"Never turn your back on your enemy," Maria warned Superman in a serious manner. She then lowered her shield, turning her glare in Megatron's direction. "He and I have unfinished business."

"I'll go take care of him," Superman said. "The rest of you, make sure those Vehicons don't try anything."

Maria gave a nod, but then a flash of metal caught the corner of her eye. She turned her gaze from Superman back to Megatron, then caught sight of something that he happened to be holding in his claws.

 _*That is not a good thing for a Decepticon to have*_  Inferno suddenly growled. She had been strangely silent ever since the whole "Orion Pax" escapade, but Maria was starting to get used to the sudden appearances by the strange voice, so she paid her no mind.

"Be careful," Maria warned. "It looks like Megatron may have found the artifact, and we have no idea what it's going to do to either the Cybertronians or us."

Superman nodded. "Kara, you're with me."

The Kryptonian turned and zoomed toward Megatron, slamming into the Con's legs, causing the mech to stumble slightly, a dent left in the armor from the impact.

Megatron glared down at the Kryptonian, optics narrow. "Puny human." He was about to fire his arm cannon at Superman, but Supergirl zoomed in and managed to get the arm cannon almost all the way off the Con's arm.

Maria was surprised. She knew Kryptonian strength was strong when in yellow sunlight, but she didn't think that it was possible for one of them to nearly take a Con's cannon off.

"That's Kryptonian!" Supergirl snapped at Megatron. She started trying to bend the cannon back so that the business end was facing away from Superman -- and maybe towards Megatron. "And keep this thing away from my cousin!"

"Kara!" Superman exclaimed in alarm. He slammed into Megatron again, putting a few more dents there in order to keep the Con's attention away from his cousin.

Maria glared at the Vehicon she was fighting, the Fire Whip ready to wrap around its neck, only for Connor to suddenly come up behind it and rip some of its wires out, causing the Con to collapse.

"No fair!" Maria complained, allowing the Fire Whip to dissipate. "I just about had him."

There was the sudden sound of metal hitting metal, and Megatron stumbled back, Optimus in a pose that made it look like he had just punched the Decepticon with a left hook -- which was most likely what had occurred.

Ratchet snatched a metal object from where it had fallen on the ground -- the artifact that Megatron had been holding onto. "I've got it, Optimus!"

The Autobot leader nodded in approval as Supergirl and Superman took to the air, retreating a short distance from Megatron.

The Decepticon let out a hiss. "This isn't over, Optimus." He got up and made his way over to a Ground Bridge that had suddenly opened up, seeming to limp slightly in his gait. "I will have the other artifacts."

"You really did a number on him, Supes," Maria noted, watching as the Decepticon disappeared, the Bridge disappearing not long after.

"His armor's tough," Superman replied. "I could feel the recoil go through my arm every time I hit him."

"A Cybertronian's armor is built to last," Optimus stated. "To see a life form of your size deal so much damage...it is nearly unheard of."

"Welcome to Earth," Connor replied dryly. Gaining a more serious expression, he stated, "Optimus, these are Supergirl and Superman, or Kara Zor-El and Kal-El. They're...I guess you could say they're my cousins."

Optimus' optics widened slightly. "Kryptonian names," he noted.

"You've heard of us?" Supergirl asked, surprised.

"You did yell out your species' name at Megatron," Ratchet grumbled. "Optimus, do you want us to Ground Bridge back to base? Including them?"

The Prime considered this for a moment before nodding. "I believe that Smokescreen will be delighted to see living Kryptonians. I am also...curious as to your present status among the worlds."

Maria blinked in slight confusion.  _Smokescreen? Who's that?_

The medic let out a sigh before muttering something under his breath. A moment later, a green vortex identical to the one Megatron had disappeared into appeared beside him. "May as well get this over with...." He turned and walked into the Ground Bridge, Connor following behind him.

"Come on," Maria stated to Superman and Supergirl. "It's just like a Zeta Tube. Just...a little bigger."

**Line Break**

Supergirl let out a whistle as she walked into the base, her cousin beside her and Optimus, Ratchet and Maria coming in behind them. "Wow. This place is big."

The blue-eyed Reploid chuckled lightly. "What would you expect? Cybertronians  _are_  kinda big." She looked up at Optimus and Ratchet, a curious expression coming over her face. "So, who's Smokescreen?"

Ratchet huffed. "He is a youngling with no experience in war. He came to us not too long after you went up to the Justice League's so-called 'Watchtower'."

"Ah. Well, that explains why I haven't heard of him." Maria looked around the base. "Hey, Optimus -- where is everybody else?"

"Nurse Darby insisted on getting Matthew something to wear other than what he came to this world in," the Autobot leader replied. "The other three still have school."

"Ah. The latter I was expecting, but not the former." Maria scratched the back of her head, neglecting to add that she had never even thought of that when she had been off-world in the Disney Kingdom, having spent days in her own clothes until returning home. However, her mom  _had_  said that her clothes weren't actually as worn as they should have been.

"I had better get his in storage," Ratchet muttered, glaring at the Extractor like it was a piece of scrap. He turned and walked away, carefully carrying the artifact.

"How easy is it to set that thing off?" Supergirl asked, motioning to Ratchet's back as he disappeared down an adjoining corridor.

"Very," Optimus replied gravely.

Right then, there came the sound of giant metal footsteps from the corridor that Ratchet had disappeared down. Maria turned her head just as a new figure stepped into the room.

The Cybertronian was about Bee's size, but silver instead of yellow. Red and blue stripes ran up his form and the doorwings on his back, which stiffened as soon as the mech's silver optics locked on the human figures standing on the floor of the base.

Maria was able to guess pretty easily as to who the mech was, considering that Optimus had mentioned the name before.

"Smokescreen, right?" Maria asked, taking a few steps forward, one hand held out in greeting.

The silver mech jolted, then looked down with some confusion. "Y-yeah. Who are you?"

"Name's Maria White," Maria replied lightly. "Matt's my older brother."

Recognition flashed in Smokescreen's optics, followed quickly by excitement. "Oh! So you're that World Jumper I've been hearing so much about?"

Maria cocked her head to one side in interest. "So Matt told you my title, did he?"

"Yeah. The other humans mentioned something about a video game series, too, but I'm not exactly sure what they meant by that."

"They haven't shown you? Well, that's surprising. We can do something about that later, though." Maria looked around the base. "Like when the others get back."

"I guess so...." Smokescreen's blue optics moved over to the other members of the little group Maria had come in with, and his optics widened. "No. Way. You three...are you real live Kryptonians?"

"Yes," Superman replied with a slight nod. "I take it you're the 'Smokescreen' Optimus mentioned before we got here?"

"That's me," Smokescreen confirmed. "Wow. Hey -- either of you guys know about a guy named Jor-El?"

Superman stiffened. "He...was my father. Why do you ask?"

"On my way here, I heard a lot about his work, and I heard that there were a couple Kryptonians who had survived its destruction. Did he--"

"I'm afraid to say that he did not." Superman let out a sigh. "He sent me off-world just as the planet exploded...in a prototype rocket that could only hold an infant. I only learned later that my uncle had done similar research and had saved my cousin." He motioned to Supergirl, who smiled and waved up at the Autobot.

"So, you guys don't have memories of your home?" Smokescreen's optics were wide by this newfound news.

"Mine are faint," Supergirl admitted.

"I was created by a bunch of humans in a lab here on Earth, so I don't know anything about Krypton," Connor remarked, shrugging. Maria could tell that he was a bit stiff about the memory, but he was doing his best to not think back on it too much.

"Mine were fabricated by a plant," Superman muttered, causing the blue-eyed Reploid to look at him in surprise, blinking for a moment before frowning.

"Black Mercy, right?" Maria guessed, relying on her memories from home to bring up the name.

The Kryptonian looked at her in surprise. "How did you--"

"TV show, remember?  _Justice League Unlimited?"_  Maria tapped the side of her head. "I got to see Batman turn Wonder Woman back to normal when she got turned into a pig by an evil sorceress! I got to see you guys get turned into  _kids_  by Morgann Le Fay to take on Mordred!"

Smokescreen looked at Maria in surprise. "Wait --  _what?_ "

"I don't think we were on this world during these events," Optimus noted.

"I didn't think you would be -- especially when time got in flux at one point...." Maria shook her head. "A  _lot_  of things probably happened before you guys got here."

"Does this include any information about that computer virus?" Supergirl asked, eyes narrowing slightly.

"I saw him get destroyed, same as you," Maria replied calmly. "And again, and again. Need I recount what happened in Dakota? Or with Darkseid?"

Superman flinched. "No, you don't."

"Darkseid?" Smokescreen repeated. "Who's he?" He looked to Maria, only for the Reploid to back up and hold her hands up in a defensive manner.

"That is Superman's backstory, not mine," Maria stated quickly. At the back of her head, she was going through the last few scenes of the  _Superman: the Animated Series_ and  _Justice League Unlimited._ "Although, I can't help but wonder how Luthor came  _back_ from that...."

"I don't think  _anyone_ is going to figure that out," Superman responded in a low growl. "Darkseid is the ruler of a planet called Apokolips. He thought I would have made a good adoptive son and managed to brainwash me." The Kryptonian spat out the word "son" like it was Kryptonite. "It ruined my reputation with the civilians, and it's taken me  _years_  to build it up again. He came after me a few years back, but Luthor took him out of the picture, thanks to the Life Equation."

"Life Equation?" Ratchet reappeared from the corridor he had disappeared down. "But that equation is unsolvable!"

"Luthor solved it, took Darkseid away with it, and somehow came back." Superman's eyes were narrow. "I confronted him the night he 'mysteriously reappeared' and he claimed to have no recollection of it. That's when the whole problem with the Light started."

"The Light?" Smokescreen repeated, frowning slightly. "What's that?"

"A group of bad guys who claim they want humanity to 'see the light'," Supergirl explained. "Last time we saw them, they had been partnered up with the Reach."

"Doesn't particularly help that one of their number is Vandal Savage, a human who is also immortal," Maria muttered. "Who knows what goes on in that ancient head of his...."

"Immortal?" Ratchet scoffed. "No living being can be immortal."

"Then we'll have to ask Savage how he's managed to live so long, next time he tries to bash in somebody's head through that cat-wielding magic boy." Maria crossed her arms over her chest. "Really hate that kid."

"You and Batman both," Superman agreed. "Magic has always been a bit of an annoyance to him."

The red, orange, and gray-armored Reploid snorted. "A bit? Ya think?"

There was a sudden crackling noise in Maria's left ear, and she reached for the Justice League-patented comm-link. Superman, Supergirl, and Connor did the same.

:: _This is the Flash! Flare-Up, Supes Clan, do you read?::_

"Flash, I thought we told you to drop the 'clan' thing," Connor complained.

:: _Sorry. It's just so much easier to say than all your names at once!::_

"What's the trouble?" Superman asked.

_::The Cons decided to pop up again--looks like one of those beacon thingies is near Bruce Wayne's mansion. Bats already went to check it out, but I don't think he'll be able to do too much against those Vehicon-bots::_

"Think you could send us the coordinates?" Maria asked. She sent a glance up at the Cybertronians, who were looking down at the exchange with mildly confused expressions.

_::Coordinates? Sure, Flare, but Bats made it a point to say that you couldn't exactly show up. Did you do something to make him mad?::_

"I...might have." Maria rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

 _::...that would be a pretty nasty habit to have if you keep messing with him like this. I really wish I had your guts!::_  Flash laughed.  _::You guys are hanging around the Bots, right? Just give 'em these coordinates and blast off through that portal-thingy of theirs!::_

"What is it that you four are talking about?" Ratchet asked, frowning.

"Batman may have found another Cybertronian artifact on his home turf in Gotham," Maria explained, turning her attention to the red and white medic. "Flash told us where it's at, so you could Ground Bridge Superman and the others to Bats' location."

"What about you?" Smokescreen asked, looking down at the Reploid. "Aren't you supposed to be a part of the superhero group, too?"

"Well, yes, but I'm not exactly a native of this world, first of all, and secondly, Bats may or may not see me as an actual member, considering my World Jumper status. Besides, I may have tried to sneak out of the Watchtower, so he may not want to see me...." Maria shrugged helplessly.

Ratchet shook his helm. "Younglings," he muttered in an annoyed tone. He turned and faced the Ground Bridge controls. "All right. What are those coordinates?"

The blue-eyed Reploid quickly relayed the location that Flash and given her, and seconds later, the green, swirling portal was up and running.

"I'll see you guys later, then," Maria stated, turning to look at Superman, Supergirl, and Connor.

Connor nodded and gave a smirk. "If anything big comes up, let us know."

"You know I will." Maria smirked back at the half-Kryptonian. "Make sure those Cons get a good pummeling from me."

"No problem."

Connor and his two full Kryptonian relatives took to the air, then blasted off through the Ground Bridge, which closed down behind them.

Maria, Ratchet, Optimus, and Smokescreen stood around for a moment before the silver rookie turned his helm to look fully at Maria with a confused and curious expression.

"Could you tell me what a World Jumper does?"

**Spacial Break**

Megatron was downright  _furious._  Not only had Optimus managed to locate the exact same artifacts he had, but the librarian also managed to get his servos on two of them! He had nearly had the Spark Extractor and the Phase Shifter in his servos, but then three  _flying_  humans and that Reploid-creature had shown up! Now all the Decepticon leader could do was sit on his servos and wait for Soundwave to crack the Iacon codes before Optimus could...which the former gladiator figured would be nearly impossible.  _Especially_ with the Reploid-creature assisting him.

"Damn that Justice League to the Pit," Megatron snarled under his breath as he paced in his quarters. Normally, he didn't use human words in his curses, but as of late, it was starting to become more of a habit. "If it wasn't for their infernal meddling, then I might have won this war when Optimus did not know who he was!"

_::It was not just the Justice League who did this, my friend::_

The silver mech stiffened upon hearing the voice. He looked around quickly, then discovered that the monitor he used to watch the bridge of the  _Nemesis_ had been tampered with. Now, a strange figure was there, servos clasped in front of him in what looked like a relaxed position.

Megatron scowled. "I thought I told you to stay out of my affairs,  _human_. You had no business offering me help last orbital-cycle."

 _::Come come now, Megatron::_  the human figure purred.  _::I was simply offering you a taste of what we humans can do for you and your soldiers. The upgrades should have been useful for the Vehicons and yourself::_

"The Vehicons have certainly increased in strength, no thanks to you," Megatron growled in reply, "but I do not recall giving you permission to upgrade  _me,_  Alexander Luthor."

The King of the Cons had never felt like this man could be an ally. Ever since he had poked his fleshy nose in Cybertronian affairs, the "Justice League" that seemed intent on protecting the world had started to meddle, as well.

Now, Megatron was starting to cook up ways to exterminate the human race in such a painful way that the would-be meddlers would be begging him for death by he time he was done with them.

 _::Ah, I see they haven't kicked in yet::_  The bald human on the monitor gave an evil smile of sorts, then unclasped his hands and snapped his fingers.

Instantly, Megatron felt  _something_  invade his processor. That set off so many traps and firewalls that the gladiator was certain that the human-made virus wouldn't be able to breach his processor and cause major damage.

Lex Luthor shook his head and made a  _tsk_  noise through his teeth.  _::Incredible defenses, but not strong enough::_

Megatron let out a yell of pain as his firewalls were suddenly breached at once, the intruder spreading out through his databanks of memory. His vision started to flicker. He attempted to punch the monitor in front of him, but his arm wouldn't respond. Something...no,  _someone_  was taking away his control.

Lex Luthor smiled, his brown eyes flashing an entirely different color for an instant. "The Autobots are not going to fall by your hand alone, like the Justice League won't fall by mine alone. Since they have shown proof of working together...we should work together, as well."

Megatron shook his helm. Control over his limbs was returning...why had he even lost control in the first place? His processor was blank where the last few moments of memory should have been.

Except....

"Perhaps you are right," Megatron stated, looking coolly at Lex. There was a knowing smirk on the human's face, but the Decepticon paid it no heed. "We may be able to destroy our enemies by combing our resources."

The knowing smirk widened slightly, but not enough for it to turn into a grin. "Indeed. Let us see about destroying everything that our enemies know...."


	26. Chapter 26

It was a few weeks after that particular incident before the Autobots and Maria were contacted by the Justice League yet again.

Maria let out a loud yawn from where she was lounging on the couch. "Man, things have gotten quiet around here for some reason. Why is it that the Cons haven't been going after the artifacts like no tomorrow? I mean, they've got the database, _we've_ got the database...it doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe they're waiting for us to make a move," Matthew suggested from where he sat to Maria's right. Blue aura danced across his fingers before forming into a bright blue sphere a moment before dissipating into the blue, flame-like presence again. "I mean, Optimus _has_ been working at decoding as much of the database as he can, but he still hasn't found any more coordinates for those artifacts."

"I know. I've been translating the Cybertronian entries into English for the past hour. It's all archived reports from back on Cybertron...mostly of casualties and decreasing materials while they were working on repairing something called the 'Ark'."

Matthew was about to say something else in response to his sister's moody statement, but then a loud beeping from the computer console caught the humans' attention. The two siblings turned to look at the back of the Prime as he responded to the noise.

"You have reached the Autobot Outpost--"

_::Optimus! Thank God, there's someone on the other end!::_

Maria stiffened slightly. She knew that voice.

"Gear? What's he doing contacting us?" The Reploid sat forward a little in her seat expectantly, one hand on her knee while the other one lay across her lap in a stance that clearly said that she was ready to move.

Matthew shrugged. "Maybe they found another artifact snd they need our help keeping it from the Cons?"

Maria looked over at her brother in surprise, then smirked. "If that's true, then I could use some action!"

_::We just picked up the location of three Cybertronian signals. And -- get this -- they're not artifacts! They're real-life Cybertronians!::_

"Are you certain, Gear?" There was a strange sense of urgency in Optimus' voice.

Maria scooted forward another inch in her seat. More Cybertronians? This could turn the tide of the Autobots' war to their favor!

Or...it could provide the Decepticons with even more firepower than they already had, and that definitely wouldn't be a good thing.

_::One hundred percent, Optimus. There are more Cybertronian signals closing in on them -- I suspect that they're Decepticons, unless you have Autobots in the Metropolis area::_

"Metropolis?" Matthew repeated. "That's Superman's home city!"

"Do you have the coordinates?" Optimus asked, ignoring the comments from the siblings behind him.

 _::Yeah -- I've got them right here. Just give me a sec....::_ The Dakota teen quickly relayed the coordinates, then added, _::The civilians are in a panic down there. I wouldn't recommend walking around on two feet when you enter the city, Optimus::_

"Understood." Optimus down on the lever, opening the Ground Bridge. "Matthew, man the Ground Bridge until Ratchet returns with Nurse Darby. Maria, come with me."

"You got it!" Maria leapt up from the couch and dashed towards the edge of the human relaxing area before jumping up. The hoverboard/battery pack on her back detached and unfolded, giving the red, orange, and gray-armored Reploid a place to land before flying toward the now-open Ground Bridge. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of her brother running over to the computer and the human-sized version of the Ground Bridge lever.

Maria and Optimus moved through the Ground Bridge and entered the city that the first Kryptonian on Earth called home. The Autobot made it a point to exit the Ground Bridge in his alt mode, as they were entering a _city_ that was crawling with people who didn't know that giant alien robots existed on their planet.

As it was, like Gear had warned, Metropolis was already in a panic.

Maria flew in and had to move a few feet higher in order to avoid what looked like a mother and three young children running in the opposition direction, the Ground Bridge having long since closed behind the Reploid and the semi next to her.

"Sheesh, the Cons really did a number on the people's fears," Maria noted dryly. "We'd better be careful -- the Vehicons are probably doing collateral damage in order to find the Cybertronians Gear mentioned."

"We must proceed with caution," Optimus agreed.

The two quickly started forward, trying their best to stay close to each other while at the same time avoiding the crowds of people running away from he sound of blaster fire and metal hitting metal. The crowds were surprisingly accommodating, moving around the semi and sending looks as they passed at the empty driver's seat before picking up their speed and hurrying off into the more intact section of the city.

Although, one or two of those fleeing weren't quite so friendly.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" A business man shouted up at Maria. "Is that one of those robots that Luthor's been trying to pawn off to the military?"

Maria glanced down at him. "Luthor? Robots? You really must be off your rocker."

While the Reploid _sounded_ calm, she was actually somewhat nervous. The simple idea that Luthor was not only making robots like the Cybertronians, but attempting to sell them to military powers made her uneasy.

The thought made her remember something that Barman had mentioned back near the beginning of her time on this world -- when it was discovered that Luthor had made Vehicon lookalikes....

Maria and Optimus eventually managed to get past the crowds, and the pair broke out of the buildings and came across what looked like a park of sorts.

At least, what _used_ to be a park. Now it looked like the sight of some sort of roller derby...but with giant robots instead of demolished cars and monster trucks.

Maria and Optimus came to a stop, the Reploid watching as a white mech with a black helm and blue visor over his eyes slammed into a Vehicon and sent the purple Con drone flying. A red mech standing nearby sliced the flying Con neatly in two, sending the two sides falling to the ground with a loud whoop. Nearby, a yellow mech with an identical frame to the red one slammed into another Vehicon and took his helm off with one move -- and he looked pretty uncomfortable about having the Vehicon's Energon splattering all over him.

Maria blinked her blue eyes in slight confusion. "Looks like the three signals were Autobots," she noted.

"Not necessarily," Optimus replied. "Some Cybertronians do not wish to take part in the war. These neutrals know how to defend themselves, but they do not wish to join either side. However, in this case, these three mechs are Autobots."

A grin split Maria's face, and she gave a delighted laugh. "Awesome! So, who are they?"

"They are old allies of mine."

With that, Optimus transformed into his bipedal form, catching the attention of the three mechs, who stiffened in fighting stances for a moment before seeing who exactly it was who was standing in front of them.

The white mech with the visor was the first to speak.

"Prime!" the mech exclaimed, grinning. "It's good ta see ya, mech!"

Maria blinked in slight confusion. _Was that...a Southern accent or something?_

"Jazz," Optimus greeted in reply with a nod of his head. "I am pleased to see that you are alive and well."

"Did you forget about us?" the red mech asked cockily, smirking.

"I did not, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker." Optimus nodded to the red and yellow mechs in turn.

Maria barely managed to catch the names of the other two mechs that Optimus had said, mainly because the name _Jazz_ had caught her attention. The last time she had heard that name was when she had been on the _Nemesis_ with Orion Pax...wasn't he one of Optimus' old friends?

There was something else that was bothering her too, though...and it was about the three mechs' appearances. It almost felt as though the three of them were...familiar. _Incredibly_ familiar. However, she wasn't quite able to put a finger on _why_ exactly they were so familiar.

"Who's that?"

Maria was jolted out of her thoughts when the red mech -- Sideswipe, she remembered -- asked his question while pointing in her direction.

"My name's Maria," the red, orange, and gray-armored Reploid spoke up, looking over at the mech who had spoken. "I've been spending time with the Autobots here on Earth for the past few months."

"You look a lot like the native creatures around here," the yellow mech -- Sunstreaker -- noted with a slight sound of disgust.

"Well, actually --"

"Ya think we could talk about dis in private?" Jazz interrupted. "More Cons could end up comin', an' I don' want ta get even more attention than we've already got by scarin' the natives half ta death."

"Well spoken, Jazz," Optimus responded. "Matthew, send a Ground Bridge to my coordinates. I will be coming back with old friends."

Within seconds, a swirling green vortex appeared near Optimus, and the red and blue mech sent his gaze around to the other three mechs before turning and starting into the portal.

"Come on," Maria stated as she moved towards the portal herself. She motioned with an arm for the three mechs to follow her. "We're heading to our home away from home."

Jazz gave a smirk. "I like the sound o' that."

Maria gave a smirk in return, then turned and flew through the Ground Bridge and came out back at base...only to see more people than when she had originally left.

"We heard about what was going on in Metropolis from Matthew," Raf stated as Maria flew over to the couch -- which was now occupied by Raf, Miko, Jack, and Matthew.

"I kind of figured as much," Maria remarked lightly, landing on the platform near them.

"So, who are the three Cybertronians?" Miko asked eagerly. "Are they Autobots?"

"Course we're Bots!" Jazz exclaimed as he came through the Ground Bridge. "Wha' else would we be?"

"Definitely not Decepticons, that's for sure," Sideswipe scoffed as he and Sunstreaker stepped through the Ground Bridge after Jazz.

Ratchet's optics widened upon seeing the three newcomers -- specifically, two of them. "By the AllSpark, no...not you two!"

The red and yellow Autobots exchanged grins upon hearing the medic's exclamation, only for Jazz to knock them both in the back of the helm.

"Don' go an' get any ideas, you two," the white mech warned. "Do you want da wrench?"

"The wrench?" Jack repeated, frowning when he saw the red and yellow Autobots shudder.

"Yeah." Jazz frowned. "Ya mean ta tell me Ratch hasn' used da wrench?"

The humans looked at each other, then shook their heads.

Maria shrugged. "He used it to upgrade the Ground Bridge, but he hasn't done anything else with it. I get the feeling that's not what you're talking about here, though."

"It isn't," Jazz confirmed.

"None of you deserved it," Ratchet commented.

"So, who are you guys?" Raf asked.

"I'm Jazz, and these two are Sideswipe an' Sunstreaker," Jazz introduced, motioning to himself, the red mech, and the yellow mech in turn. "Optimus an' I go way back."

"Really?" Raf looked at Jazz in surprise while Matthew and Jack exchanged looks of confusion.

"Yeah." Jazz chuckled. "Used to be a cultural investigator, but I'm Special Ops, now. Prowl handles all the archivin."

"Prowl?" Matthew repeated.

"He was Prime's second-in-command on Cybertron," Arcee explained. "He's our local enforcer."

"Cop Bot," Bulkhead added, noticing the confused look on Miko's face. He looked over at Jazz. "Have you heard anything from him?"

"Las' I heard, he was helpin' out a lil' planet with Ironhide an' Chromia," the white mech responded with a half shoulder-shrug. "I offered ta come wit' 'em, but dey said I should find OP -- and take dose two wit' me." He jabbed a digit in the twins' direction. "Sometin' abou' not wantin' dose two into Ironhide's lil' armory."

"For good reason!" Ratchet responded, shaking a giant wrench at the newcomers. "Bringing up morale with your pranks is one thing -- destroying the armory is something else!"

"How did they manage that?" Maria asked, eyes glinting with curiosity.

"We were setting a trap for Ironhide," Sideswipe explained, grinning. "He's always fun to prank!"

_CLANG!_

The wrench that had been in Ratchet's servo flew through the air like a boomerang, hitting both twins in the helm before returning to the medic's servo.

"Whoa...." Maria blinked a couple times at the sight, eyes wide.

"OW!" Sunstreaker glared at Ratchet, rubbing his helm. "What was that for?"

"For any pranks you might have pulled on my brother in my absence," the medic responded matter-of-factly.

Maria frowned in confusion. "Brother?"

Jazz chuckled. "I was just as surprised as you when I heard dat Hide and Ratch were brothers. They're just as alike as me an' Prowl."

"You're nothing alike!" Sideswipe protested.

"Exactly! An' we're still brothers!" Jazz let out a laugh. "Even if he's a stiff mech."

"What do you mean?" Maria asked, frowning.

"My bro's got a super-powerful brain up 'ere," Jazz explained, tapping his helm with a digit. "If 'e runs into anything that doesn't make any sense to him, 'e glitches."

"Glitch?" Raf frowned.

"He faints," Arcee replied flatly.

Upon hearing this, Miko gained a sinister look on her face, followed by a sinister grin and equally sinister cackle. "Oh, man, I really want to meet this guy! Then I could show him Doctor Who!"

"I think that if he just meets Maria, he's going to glitch," Matthew responded.

"Maybe." Maria shrugged. "That depends on whether or not he's seen an organic who was transferred from their original body to a robotic one...and is a World Jumper to boot."

"World Jumper?" Sunstreaker looked over at the Reploid and frowned. "You? Impossible. There's no way someone so small would be able to take on the job."

"Uh-huh. I've defeated animals your size before -- two of them. One could manipulate time, the other space. And I beat them both when I was only a portion of this size." Maria crossed her arms over her chest. "Have you ever done anything like that?"

Sunstreaker glowered and muttered something under his breath, but said nothing that Maria could catch.

Sideswipe laughed. "I like you, Maria! It hasn't been every cycle that someone manages to shut up Sunny!"

"Don't call me that!" Sunstreaker roared in response to his brother's statement.

Now it was Miko's turn to laugh.

"Man, you guys are awesome!" the teen exclaimed. "What kind of music do you guys like?"

Jazz looked over at Miko with a look of surprise. "Music? You mean dat stuff wit the drums an' de singin'?"

Jack and Raf let out a groan at once.

"Don't let her introduce you to Slash Monkey," Jack warned.

"We won't be able to sleep at night," Raf added.

Sideswipe had a grin cross his face almost instantly. "You like that stuff too? Awesome! I was starting to wonder if there was any way I would be able to listen to that stuff after Sunny took away my recordings of it!"

"I thought I said, DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Sunstreaker roared at his brother.

"You got recordings of it?" Miko repeated, ignoring the yellow mech's exclamation. "How? I didn't think that we were able to get anything out that far in space!"

Jazz shrugged. "I ain't no scientist, but it's got sometin' ta do wit' radio waves or sometin' like dat." A sly grin crossed his face. "Sides was de only one who wanted ta look for de Slash Monkey stuff. I like most o' de oder stuff."

Maria let out a humming noise as an idea came to mind, and she smiled slightly. "I'd like to be able to compare favorites. Maybe we'll find something in common between our two worlds."

"Sure!"

Ratchet let out a _harrumphing_ noise. "Maybe some other time, you two. The three of you don't know what's been going on here on this planet for the past few years, so it may be good to fill them in rather than introduce them to parts of your culture."

"Awwww...." Jazz's lips shifted into a pouting expression, and Maria suddenly found it _really_ hard to hold back her laughter. "All righ'. Fine." An instant later, he became bubbly again. "So, what's the intel? We picked up some chatter 'bout humans who could fly and do stuff dey weren't supposed ta do or sometin' like dat."

"Well, you can say something like that," Matthew replied evenly. "My name's Matthew, by the way. Call me Matt. I'm Maria's older brother." He got up from the couch and walked over to stand next to his sister at the edge of the platform. "Besides the Autobot-Decepticon War that this planet has going on right under its nose, there are also groups of humans with unusual abilities -- superpowers, if you will. Some cause trouble, some stop it."

"The good guys are the Justice League and anyone who happens to pop by to give them a hand from across the galaxy," Maria added. "The bad guys are...well, everybody else who wants to get in their way and cause a general ruckus."

As the explanation of Earth continued, Jazz and the red and yellow brothers took in everything that they could about what had happened so far to both the Autobots and ever since Maria had arrived there. When they came to recent events -- involving the Unicron prophecy and the events that followed up to Optimus regaining his memories -- the white mech just _had_ to interrupt.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Jazz stated, holding up his servos. "Are you tellin' me dat Optimus got on da Con's ship an' he don' remember?"

"That's what I said," Maria replied, shrugging. "I've still got my memories, but I doubt they'd be of much use when it comes to figuring out the layout -- or even where it could be right now."

"It's a ship; it moves," Matthew stated in a slightly nasally, gravelly voice. "It could take us months to track, only to get us fired upon." He grinned sinisterly.

"You're quoting somebody," Sideswipe guessed, pointing at Maria's brother. "And it sounds like Con."

"How'd you know?" Miko asked, frowning. "It could be something out of a movie."

"No, it wasn't," Matthew replied in his regular voice, his grin not as sinister now. "Sideswipe's right -- it was a Con. Starscream gave us some help in finding the Space Bridge Jack used in order to get to Cybertron. I paraphrased what he told Ratchet when we asked where the Con base was."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker looked at each other, then back at Matthew. "Starscream's here?" they asked together.

"Yeah." Raf gave a nod. "He's gone rogue, though, and we haven't really heard from him for some time."

Wicked grins came across the two mech's faces, and they looked over at Optimus eagerly.

"Can we go after him?" Sideswipe asked. "Please?"

"In due time," Optimus replied. "Now is not the time to go searching for an opponent. There are artifacts hidden here on Earth that we must find before Megatron does, or else events here could become drastic." He looked over at Jazz. "I would appreciate some assistance in decoding the database in order to find the coordinates."

Jazz gave a mock salute. "Sure thing, OP! Dat'll be no problem at all!"

"And if your friend Prowl gets here after helping that other planet, he might be able to help, too," Maria added, recalling what Optimus had said back on the _Nemesis_.

"Sure, if my bro isn't runnin' around keepin' dese two jokers in line." Jazz jabbed a digit in the direction of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. "He used ta work as a police mech in Praxis."

 _*Of course he would*_ Inferno grumbled, startling Maria with the suddenness of the strange voice's reappearance. _*I don't think he'd be able to do anything else*_

Maria decided that now would probably be the best time to ask the strange voice better than anytime else.

 _Inferno? Do you know the Cybertronians?_ Maria frowned slightly as she leaned back into a relaxed pose while Miko gained a disappointed expression upon hearing that Jazz's brother was a strict policeman.

The Reploid didn't really expect Inferno to answer, as Inferno wasn't truly a part of her -- Inferno simply a being that was piggybacking in Maria for a while, but neither were truly sure as to how long. Inferno was still her own person, but she never really decided to interrupt Maria's life unless it was really important to either one of them.

Like right now, it seemed.

_*Yes and no. I'll explain later -- when we've found more than just Blitzen*_

When Inferno fell silent, Maria remembered the young man that was "living" in Joshua, a neighbor back on her home world. It was strange, considering that there was someone so close who had one of Inferno's friends living in him.

And then there was the possibility that --

"Hey, Maria."

The blue-eyed Reploid was shaken out of her thoughts by Jazz's voice, and she looked up at the white mech with a curious expression on her face. "What's up?"

"Think we could talk 'bout some o' dat music stuff o' yours?" Jazz asked.

A smirk crossed Maria's face. "Sure. It's been a while since I dug into my musical archives." She looked over at Matthew. "And you're coming, too."

"What? Why?" Matthew's blue eyes darkened slightly.

"You've got pretty decent taste, too. Besides, I want to show you something that we could use back at home, too -- when our band practices."

Miko perked up and gave Maria a curious look. "You guys have a band?"

Matthew gave a nod. "But we don't take suggestions from people who listen to heavy metal too often." He looked over at Maria while Miko made a huffing expression and crossed her arms over her chest. "All right, you've got my attention. Let's get going."

"You are more than welcome to use one of the empty storage rooms in the base," Optimus stated. "Ratchet?"

The medic gave a nod, then sent one final glare in the direction of the twins before motioning for Jazz and the siblings to follow after him.

"We'd better not make the mech wait long," Jazz noted. He held out a servo, and Matthew quickly climbed on. Maria scrambled on after him, then sat cross-legged on the warm metal while Jazz started walking after Ratchet into the deeper areas of the base.

Maria didn't know why she had climbed on, but something told her that she had done something like this before....


	27. Chapter 27

Maria held up an arm as a blue sphere came rocketing across the training area. A fiery shield came up out of nowhere, and the blue energy exploded across the fire before dissipating. The fire was quick to dissipate, as well.

"Not bad," Maria praised, grinning across the training area at her older brother. "You're getting better at this."

"Well, when you have nothing to do really other than train all day, you find a way to get stronger," Matthew responded easily with a shrug. He gave his year-younger sister a grin and a thumbs-up. "Thanks for coming down here to help me work off my energy. I've been hoping for a sparring partner my size who can actually throw a few punches in my direction, too."

"It gives me some time to practice my abilities," Maria replied, giving a thumbs-up in return. "I've been looking for some free time to practice, too."

The two siblings were presently down in the Autobot's training ground, fighting each other while Maria was holding back some of her power, so that she wouldn't end up hitting her brother too hard with one of her attacks -- or, say, a punch to the gut. As a result, it was more of a training session for Matthew while Maria attempted to gauge her brother's abilities compared to hers.

So far, Maria hadn't been forced to rely on her Buster cannon yet, and the Reploid took that to mean that he brother still had a long way to go.

"Hey, think we can take a break for a minute?" Matthew frowned at his hands, which were still flickering with the blue fire of aura. "I think I'm going to try to work on something else besides just Aura Spheres and making that battle armor."

"Yeah, sure -- go ahead." Maria waved her brother off. "I was planning on tweaking my communications systems, anyway. Maybe get some target practice in."

A strange look flashed across Matthew's face as he gave a slight frown, but then the brown-haired boy gave a nod and turned towards the target range, blue fire working its way up his right arm as he stalked towards the Starscream-shaped targets. Most of them had become scorched pretty badly because of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe letting loose on the targets, but some of them still had some sort of semblance of color left to them.

Maria watched her brother go, then turned to look at the combat simulator for a moment before sighing and sitting down on the ground and opening up a panel in her left arm's armor covering. Located inside was some wiring that looked like it had been put in more recently than the other circuits that ran through the girl's arm -- an upgrade of some sort.

The Reploid simply looked it over for a while before sighing and covering the area up again. "That's not going to give me much help in figuring out how I was able to share my favorite music with Jazz...." She glanced up at the ceiling above, recalling that the Special Ops agent was working with Optimus in order to decipher the coding and, at the same time, figure out what to do about the Decepticons that were still running around.

"I mean...it's not like I had speakers installed into _every single fiber_ of my body, so why was I able to do that?" Maria rubbed her arm absently, considering everything that she had gone through from up until that point. "Is...is my body giving itself upgrades?" She frowned and shook her head. "That shouldn't be possible, though...."

An explosion of energy shook the gray, red, and orange-armored Reploid out of her thoughts, and she turned sharply towards the source of the noise, only to catch sight of her brother grinning triumphantly; one of the Starscreams had been completely taken off the stand that Ratchet had placed it on when Matthew had initially begun learning how to control his abilities.

"Well, at least _he's_ improving without any difficulty," Maria commented dryly to herself.

_*I've been observing that ability of his for a while now*_

The sudden intrusion of Inferno's voice only caused the Reploid to stiffen a little. _I didn't think that you had been watching him._

 _*I'm stuck in_ your _head, so of course I watched him!*_ Inferno gave a growl of annoyance, and if Maria had closed her eyes and retreated deep into herself, the Reploid was sure she would have seen the red-gold-haired woman scowling at her out of annoyance. _*There's something about your brother that reminds me of a friend of mine*_

Blue eyes blinked in confusion upon hearing the revelation. _A friend?_

_*Yes. One who I would almost consider a brother*_

Maria looked over at her brother again, then down at her left arm, flexing her wrist in an experimental fashion. _Why do you think that?_

_*Your brother's abilities are similar to my friend's*_

Maria closed one eye, and for a moment, she thought she saw a flash of fiery, red and orange armor rather than the jacket and shirt that Inferno always wore when the two were able to speak face-to-face on a mental level. _You could have said something like that when we encountered a Lucario. Why my brother?_

_*You've known him longer, you've lived with him, and he is only just now starting to develop the same abilities and attacks that my own brother used. Don't you think that's odd, kid?*_

Maria hummed in thought, considering the strange voice's words. _You know more about this than you let on. Do you mind explaining what's going on?_

There was a pause before Maria got her answer from the strange voice.

_*I can't. Something tells me you've gotta figure this out on your own*_

Maria let out a grunt of annoyance, then got up to her feet and started over to the battle simulator, setting it to the setting that she had used the first time she had come down in order to train. As the Reploid stepped inside, she glanced over at her brother.

For a moment, she could have sworn that it looked like there was the faintest outline of a figure standing beside him.

 

 


	28. Chapter 28

Maria was starting to get strangely antsy over the past few days. Everyone on base saw it -- even the humans who could only pop in occasionally to check on how their friends were doing.

Agent Fowler especially could tell that something was bothering the Reploid when he appeared on base for a regular report from Optimus Prime.

"What in Sam Hill is up with you?" the army man demanded as he stomped over to the brown-haired, blue-eyed teen pacing on the floor of the base.

Maria stopped and looked over at the African American with a straight face. "I don't know. My...." The Reploid paused to consider her wording. "My heart has been feeling tense for one reason or another, but I'm not entirely sure as to  _why_. I haven't been getting any visions, but it feels as though something major is going to happen."

"Do you mean like more 'bots showing up?" Fowler raised an eyebrow as he jabbed a thumb in the direction of the white mech standing in front of the base's computer, typing as best as he could with the human keyboard with his face screwed up in such a way that clearly said he was concentrating.

Maria shook her head. "I already know that they're coming. If it were just that, I would be pacing out of excitement, not because I'm tense." She rubbed her head with her left hand. "It's just...it's just that there's probably something else that's going on...." The Reploid regained her concerned, confused face. "It could have something to do with me tinkering with my communications system...and that I'm tuned partially into the Watchtower's frequencies, but...it feels like there's something getting in the way of me figuring out what exactly is wrong...."

As if Maria had spoken the magic words, the Ground Bridge suddenly fired up. However, instead of the usual blue-green, the vortex was a bright yellow.

"Turn on to a national news channel," Batman stated flatly as he stepped out of the vortex, Superman following closely on his heels before the yellow vortex dissipated.

"Eh?" Ratchet looked up from a giant tablet that he had been looking over -- a "datapad," Maria remembered the medic calling it. "Why would we do that?"

Jazz glanced up from the monitors, as well, curious upon hearing the new voice, before catching sight of the two newcomers standing in front of the Ground Bridge. His visor bent slightly into a curious frown before he typed up something on the keyboard. In seconds, the strange runes disappeared, and were quickly replaced by what looked like Fox News doing a live broadcast, with an anchor woman already right in the middle of a sentence.

_"--going live to the base of Lex Luthor's main office tower in Metropolis. It seems he has some sort of announcement concerning recent events."_

As if the anchor woman had spoken the magic words, the aforementioned bald businessman stepped out onto the screen and behind the podium that was already loaded with microphones from other TV stations as well as Fox News'.

 _"Citizens, I come to you today with news that will change our lives forever,"_  the man stated smoothly.  _"You all can recall when I recently took on a project involving robotic weapons of war, capable of seeking out targets disguised as civilian or army transports. Some of you may have suspected that it was my just me who was working on this project. Well, you are all correct -- I have been collaborating with someone on this work, but it isn't anyone from any_ human  _cooperation. Nor from among any members of the Reach who might have remained here. In fact, these aliens have been here since_ before  _the Reach arrived."_

Maria stiffened as soon as those words had left Luthor's mouth.  _Oh, no...is he....?_

The others present -- Fowler, Matthew, Jazz, Ratchet, and Optimus (who had been standing near Jazz but simply watching the proceedings with a tense air as soon as Batman and Superman had arrived) -- looked at the monitor with expectant expressions that bordered on anger and frustration.

 _"None of you need to panic,"_  Luthor continued, what appeared to be a calm smile passing over his face.  _"I have spoken with one of them, and they have shown to have good intentions. In fact, you can meet one of his officers right now."_

"No no no no no no no," Maria muttered, a slightly panicked expression coming over her face. "They didn't."

The camera moved to a red sports car parked behind Luthor -- an Aston Martin that looked like it had been recently waxed and polished. The car remained stationary for only about two seconds, and then it  _shifted,_ growing in size and obtaining a completely different form.

"They did!" Maria moaned, hitting her forehead with her left hand. "That's Knock Out!"

There came various reactions from the people on the other side of the camera, including screams of shock and gasps from the people that were clearly in the newsroom. Knock Out instantly took notice and gave a sinister smirk.

 _"Hey, calm down, will ya?"_ the red mech stated.  _"I come in peace and all that. Megatron sends his regards, since he's not leaving our home base right at the moment."_

Maria let out another groan and gripped at her hair as she started pacing again. "No wonder I've felt like there's something wrong! Megatron and Luthor have made an alliance! Those...those  _dummkopfs!"_

"I'll agree with you there," Matthew agreed from his spot on the couch above.

Ratchet let out a growl. "It appears our existence on this planet has been revealed to the public! And by the Decepticons, no less."

"We have proof that this partnership had gone on for longer than just a few hours," Batman stated. "There are more than enough LexCorp parts in the Vehicons we've come across and destroyed to back that up."

"They'd only have revealed it if it's the start of a new phase," Maria stated sourly. "Before we know it, Megatron will have the Autobots pinned as the bad guys -- and he would say it on public television, I'll bet."

"He would," Jazz agreed grimly, dropping the Southern accent for a moment as he shut off the monitor and returned it to the Cybertronian runes. "Or, even worse,  _he'll_  claim to be a Bot and that  _Optimus_  leads the Cons!" The mech shook her head. "It's bad enough dat Megsy is de mech to make contact officially wit' da humans first. Now what are we gonna do?"

"Are you guys going to have to reveal yourselves, too?" Matt asked, frowning. "It may be the best option if we're going to give the world any sort of warning about what kind of mech the King 'Con is."

Jazz looked in surprise at Matt before scowling and muttering something under his breath that sounded a lot like "I wish I had thought o' dat one."

Down on the floor of the base, Maria made a nervous noise as she continued to pace. "Something still isn't right." The Reploid could easily guess at what it was that was off, but she needed to be doubly sure with the assistance of the others before she could pop her question to Optimus.

Maria paused in her pacing and dropped her hands from her head before looking up at Optimus, Ratchet, and Jazz. "Would Megatron really do something like this? He  _hates_  humans, doesn't he?"

"That certainly seems to have been his reaction whenever he sees one of our charges," Ratchet noted gruffly. "One would think that he might react the same way to other humans, as well."

"And that's what worries me." Maria's expression became a mix between panicked and concerned. "And something tells me that both of them are double-crossers by nature -- Luthor is able to make enough lies and deceptions to make himself a Decepticon in human form, not counting all the weaponry he has at his fingertips in all his labs. Megatron is probably capable of the same -- plus he has the off world firepower-tech to back himself up. The two of them  _working together_  absolutely  _screams_ trouble -- for everybody!"

"Maria's got a point," Matthew agreed, nodding. "And Luthor has gotten himself into sticky situations in the past that have gotten him into deeper trouble than he seems to expect  _every single time._  It happened when he allied with the Reach. I wouldn't be surprised if it happens again."

"The appearance of the Decepticons in the pubic eye is going to cause some major problems for everyone," Superman agreed. He eyed Fowler with a serious expression. "Including for the government, since you have already allied yourselves with the Autobots."

"Well of course we did!" Fowler replied, scowling. "Luthor is your main problem, isn't he?" He pointed an accusing finger at the Kryptonian. "You're going to have to figure out a way to take him out without waking up the Pentagon."

"And why can't  _you_ do anything about it?" Maria demanded sharply, turning and crossing her arms over her armored chest. A dark look had come over her face, and it almost seemed as though fire was starting to spread up across her shoulders, giving the red, orange, and gray-armored Reploid a ready-for-battle expression. "You're a government agent, right? You can go and work some of your government magic and do at least  _something_  about what Luthor is up to."

"Like it's that easy," Fowler growled in reply. "In case you haven't noticed, Lex Luthor is one of the country's biggest suppliers in weaponry for the military. Even if I went and reported this and exposed everything about him to the higher-ups, they wouldn't do anything about it."

"Then  _find another way_ ," Batman growled, stalking over to the African American. "We can only do so much; we're  _not_  miracle workers."

"Batman's right," Superman agreed. "I'm not going to invade his tower just because we're looking for proof that both sides of the deal have evil intentions."

"That would be breaking and entering, correct?" Ratchet intoned, frowning.

"Yeah," Maria agreed. "And Luthor could be expecting Supes or someone from the JLA to do that. His building is probably  _booby-trapped_ after everything that's happened to him. I wouldn't set foot in there for a million bucks."

"Double that for me," Matt intoned grimly.

"Well then, what are we going to do, arrange for a press conference?" Fowler asked sarcastically, holding his hands out. "It's not like my hands are untied here."

"Try saying that in our situation," Maria replied sourly. "Superheroes can only go into certain places, and most of them when they have to get fired at  _on purpose_. The only reason I  _wasn't_  when I went up onto the  _Nemesis_  was because I managed to pass myself off as completely harmless to the Decepticons until Optimus and I left!" She waved a hand in the Prime's direction. "And I  _know_  I've been seen by Luthor's security cams a few times -- like when we blew up his lab to get rid of the Dark Energon."

"I haven't heard anything about  _that_ ," Fowler noted, frowning. "Luthor never said anything about losing a lab on the news -- or even having Dark Energon anywhere near him."

Maria blinked for a moment in confusion upon hearing this, then snorted. "Just some trick to keep the masses from learning of his true intentions with the Cons."

Batman gave Maria a curt nod before looking up at Optimus with that usual glare of his. "Luthor and Megatron may be planning on double-crossing each other later, but for now they seem to be working together."

" _Seem_  being the key word there," Maria interrupted. When Batman turned his glare to her again, she took a step back and held up her gloved hands in defense. "Hey, I'm just agreeing with you, here."

Batman's eyes narrowed slightly, and he returned his attention to Optimus. "We're going to have to draw them out if we're going to have to prove them to be who they are."

"Are you proposin' an alliance, Bat?" Jazz asked.

"It may be your best option," Superman replied. "We have a large network of heroes across the globe who have connections to alien races in the outside world. We would be more than willing to help you in your war."

"I appreciate your offer, but I do not wish to bring more innocent lives into this," Optimus replied, raising a servo.

"Innocent?" Matthew snorted. "Optimus, these people have participated in wars of their own -- Darkseid, the Reach -- shoot, the Green Lanterns are called away  _all the time_ in order to --"

"Green Lanterns?" Ratchet repeated, startled. The datapad in his servo seemed like it was about to fall for a moment, but the medic quickly took notice and adjusted his grip on the large tablet.

Maria noticed the red and white medic's shock, and turned slightly so that she could look at the mech. "Yeah. Do you know of them?"

"Know of 'em?" Jazz repeated. "OP's a  _fan_  of 'em!" He jabbed a digit in Optimus' direction, but the Prime wasn't reacting to the statements going on around him. "He used 'ta look up stories of 'em all de time back at home!" A grin crossed the white mech's face. "If you guys are friends wit' 'em, den you guys might be able to give us a servo, eh, Prime?"

There was a pause as the others turned their attention towards the cobalt and red Cybertronian, who glanced about for a moment. Maria couldn't tell what was going on in the Prime's helm, but something told her that a very difficult decision was in front of him.

Especially since one decision meant meeting Green Lanterns.

After a moment, Optimus' gaze moved over to Batman, and he gave a slight nod. "Very well. I accept your offer of an alliance. However, I retain the option to order you to pull back if any Decepticons start to act more aggressively than normal."

Maria blinked for a moment, eyes narrowing slightly in confusion.  _What does he mean by that?_

 _*Megatron's not the only Con to use Dark Energon*_  Inferno growled darkly at the back of Maria's mind.  _*Believe me, it's not a pretty picture*_

_I'll keep that in mind, I guess._

Batman gave a slight nod. "Fair enough." He turned his attention to Maria, who looked over at the Dark Knight with a cautious expression. "I doubt that, if Luthor knows of you, that he knows of your full capabilities just yet. Megatron either, unless you decided to expel a large amount of energy in his presence."

"Huh?" Maria blinked in confusion, frowning slightly.

"Your...Final Smash?" Batman ground out the words like they somehow disagreed with him.

Recognition crossed Maria's face, and she instantly shook her head. "No, I haven't used that yet here. I think I've gotten close, but I wasn't pushed that far. Megatron knows I can control fire, but he doesn't know how far my control can go."

"Final Smash?" Jazz repeated.

"You'll see sooner or later, probably," Matthew commented. "I wouldn't worry about it right now." He made a waving motion that made it look like the subject wasn't something that they should be worrying about right at that moment.

"Why were asking about it, Bats?" Maria asked, frowning at the Dark Knight. Her face shifted from pure curiosity to one of slight nervousness. "Don't tell me you're planning on sending me in there. I already said that I didn't want to."

"It's not a matter of whether you  _want_  to; it's a matter of if you  _have_  to," Batman replied. "You and your brother aren't from around here --"

"That's the understatement of the century," Matthew interrupted dryly. When Batman sent a glare up in his direction, the nineteen-year-old shrugged. "I've seen enough movies and TV shows with you in them not to be afraid of you. You're going to have to try harder if you're going to spook me."

Batman's eyes narrowed slightly, but he returned his attention to the Reploid without giving Matthew a retort. "Luthor is going to be completely unable to use his connections to discover any background information that may seem remotely plausible."

"Are you saying that video games may not give him what he's looking for?" Maria asked, blinking in surprise. "Because Jack pretty much confirmed for me a few months back that the people on this world know about events that I've been through."

"He may think that you based yourself off the video game character," Superman spoke up.

"OK...but wouldn't that reveal my abilities to him?"

"I doubt it," Batman replied. "He may think that you have advanced technology hidden in your armor that allows you to use your abilities."

Matthew snorted. "Wouldn't that be further from the truth." He got up from the couch and stretched out his back, producing a few cracking noises as vertebrae snapped into place.

"I wouldn't be so relaxed, either," Maria warned her brother. "Batman may be thinking about sending you in there, too."

The brown-haired blue-eyed teen up on the platform stiffened upon hearing his sister's words. "Yeah, no. My aura abilities haven't gotten up to that level yet."

"You have control well enough," Ratchet intoned. "However, I would agree with Maria's earlier statement -- this would be much too dangerous for you two, if this Luthor character is as dangerous as you claim."

Maria let out a sigh of relief, her body relaxing somewhat upon hearing the red and white medic's statement.

"Maria can handle herself," Batman stated abruptly, turning to look up at the Autobot. "She is a World Jumper, and has been in more dangerous places than a skyscraper."

"What makes you think that anywhere I've been is more dangerous than Luthor's Tower of Death?" Maria burst out, turning sharply to glare at the Dark Knight. "Disney's version of Atlantis wasn't a problem because I had two experienced travelers from that corner of the multiverse at my side. Neo-Mobius wasn't one because I had six strong creatures with me at most -- creatures that could break down doors and find traps without a problem. Plus, any villains that I came across had incompetent help for minions, and  _no traps that were meant to kill people at all._  And you know what happened during the Smash Worlds Tournament."

"What about Capcom?" Batman's eyes were extremely narrow, now -- his mask's eyeholes were nearly slits. "From what I recall, you weren't in a very safe position then."

A shudder ran through Maria's form; the Reploid had nearly forgotten how it was that the Dark Knight knew.

"The only reason I told you about  _that_  was to get it off my chest," she hissed. "Besides,  _his_  base wasn't boobytrapped with heat-seeking missiles or anything else like that -- he was used to having robots attack, not humans."

Jazz seemed to be somewhat confused and opened his mouth in order to ask what was going on, but then he saw a look in Optimus' optics that caused his mouth to shut. Ratchet still retained his gruff expression, keeping his emotions in a steel trap.

"But you still know how to avoid them." Batman seemed to have started to maneuver Maria into a position that clearly said that he had her where he wanted her.

"Not really, but I do have some experience," Maria admitted. She stiffened slightly when she realized what she had just said. "But that doesn't mean that I want to go in there!"

"We need someone who has the experience and someone Luthor won't be a expecting," Superman stated somewhat apologetically. "We would send your brother, since he hasn't been seen by either side, but it's obvious that he doesn't have any combat experience."

"Of course he doesn't," the red, orange, and gray armored Reploid muttered sourly. "This is  _only_  his second time off-world. The  _last_  time he went to another world, he got  _brainwashed_  and turned into a walking vegetable for most of his time there!" Maria turned and yelled up at her brother as she finished speaking.

"Hey, you would have been nabbed, too, if it weren't for the fact that you were with MegaMan!" Matthew barked from above.

"Knock it off, the both of you!" Fowler suddenly barked, irritated.

The two teenagers looked at the African American in surprise while he glared at them, their expressions clearly saying that Matt and Maria had completely forgotten that he was there.

The government agent then turned to look at Batman and Superman with newfound courage in his eyes. "Look, I know you guys want to get to the bottom of this and solve the whatever-it-is that's going on between the Cons and Lex, but barging in is not going to help."

"I wouldn't call it 'barging in'," Superman noted, glancing sidelong at Batman with a knowing expression. "It's more like...self-inviting."

"Is that even a word?" Maria questioned, frowning.

"That doesn't matter," Batman responded quickly. He started towards the Reploid and stopped a few inches away from the teenager. "What I want to know right now is whether you're willing to assist us in discovering what Luthor and Megatron are up to."

"I'll help," Matthew called out. "Anything to get me out of this base."

Batman didn't respond to Matthew's statement, instead keeping his gaze locked with Maria's blue orbs. The Reploid didn't back down from the Dark Knight's gaze, but she did look somewhat nervous.

And Maria felt nervous. Here she was, standing in the Autobot base (with a voice at the back of her head that  _knew_  the Autobots), with Batman glaring down at her demanding to know whether she'd be willing to help take down an alliance between Megatron and Lex Luthor!

 _*Make your choice already!*_  Inferno snarled while Maria nervously bounced back and forth the idea of either turning down Batman's offer or actually going into even more danger than she had been before just by setting foot into "Lex Luthor's Booby-Trapped Tower of Doom."  _*I do_ not  _want to end up sitting on my hands while Megatron and Luthor destroy this world!*_

 _They_ won't  _destroy it,_  Maria responded with mental irritation.

_*Yeah. Because someone is going to stop them, and it's definitely not going to be me because I don't have my body back yet!*_

_Well, what do you expect me to do?_

_*Do you really want me to answer that?*_

.....

"You can count me in," Maria finally stated with a slight sigh.

Batman gave a slight nod. "You have a few days to prepare before I'm going to be ready to send you out."

Maria closed one eye, and data scrolled across the darkened half of her vision. "It might be a good idea for the two of us to go down and train as much as we can. I've got a few techniques that I haven't used for some time that my end up being useful."

Matthew blinked in confusion. "Two of us?"

"Yeah. You've got to work on your techniques, too, you know."

Matthew frowned, and he sighed and tolled his eyes. "All right, fine."

"Good." Batman gave a slight nod before turning his attention to Ratchet. A look passed between the two of them, and Ratchet walked over and fired up the Ground Bridge.

The Dark Knight and Superman walked over to the vortex, the Gotham vigilante going through first. Superman paused at the portal and looked back at the group for a moment before disappearing into the swirling green, as well.

Jazz whistled as Ratchet shut down the Ground Bridge. "Man, that is one stiff human."

"You don't know the half of it," Maria replied. She turned and looked up at her brother. "Come on -- let's go train."


	29. Chapter 29

**Maria's POV**

It was about a week before Batman showed up again at the base with that dark glare of his. During that time, I made sure that I was running the simulations in the training area and doing what I could to prepare for what was ahead of me.

Also during that time, Knock Out made more appearances on TV, trying to get friendly with the locals and mostly failing. Whenever Sunstreaker saw him, he'd stomp downstairs with me and disappear into the simulation while I went for target practice and got a lot better at my aim.

I think I ended up picking up a lot of Cybertronian swears from him while he was trying to tear KO to pieces. And you know what scared me about it? Inferno was able to give me translations without so much as a consideration for whether I wanted to know or not.

It kinda makes me wonder how much of a connection she has with the Bots and Cons...and if it's got anything to do with why I feel like I've seen Jazz somewhere before. Yeah, the feeling I had when I first saw him hasn't left. And it's starting to creep me out.

I wasn't able to sort that feeling out by the time that Batman came back to the base to get me so that I could get into Luthor's Tower of Doom without getting myself killed trying to get in.

That wasn't a thought that I wanted to think about. Inferno wasn't too keen on it, either, so she'd usually keep my thoughts on either working on my abilities or doing something about figuring out how I could add swords to my weaponry. The blades were something I had been thinking about for a while, mainly because I needed something that I could use I close combat. Fist fights aren't exactly something that I wanted to really get into all that much.

Anyway...back to Batman getting on base.

I was actually taking a break from the training floor (and avoiding Sunstreaker and his dirty mouth) by talking music with Jazz on the main floor when Batman showed up via the Ground Bridge-slash-Boom-Tunnel...or whatever-it-was that the Justice League called their teleportation system.

"Maria."

I paused right in the middle of explaining about jazz music to Jazz (he was really curious about the music that took after his name), and I looked down from the Bot-sized computer dashboard that I was sitting on.

"Batman," I stated, blinking in surprise when I saw him standing on the floor. It didn't occur to me until a second later why exactly he was there. "...Oh. It's time, huh?"

Batman gave a slight nod in response to my question. "Come on." He turned and started towards the Ground Bridge, then pulled out a remote from under his cloak and pressed a button. Instantly, the Ground Bridge opened up a bright yellow portal.

I jumped down from the console that I had been standing on, Jazz giving me a one-handed, somewhat-grim salute as I landed on the ground.

"Good luck, lil' lady," Jazz stated. "Yer gonna need it."

"Thanks," I replied, nodding to the Autobot. Then I turned and started towards the portal, Batman following after me. The fact that he was following me made me wonder if he was trying to make sure I didn't run off or something.

At this point, I don't really think that me running away from invading Luthor's Tower of Doom would have helped us out too much...considering the alliance between him and the Cons. If I didn't do something in order to put a stop to their plans, then things may end up getting harder from here...unless Batman has a back-up plan in mind, which I don't doubt.

Batman and I stepped out of the portal's other end and came to a stop inside the familiar main room of the base of Mt. Justice. For some reason, though, the entire area was deserted. With the only noise coming from the computers, it kind of left me with an odd feeling that unnerved me a little bit.

OK, it unnerved me a lot.

"Where is everyone?" I asked as Batman walked over to the main computer console.

"Out," Batman responded simply. His fingers started flying across the keyboard, bringing up a schematic of a building on the large screen in front of him. It took me a moment to figure out what he was doing, but when I saw the logo that was in the top left-hand corner of the schematic, I knew what I was looking at.

"You've got the plans for Luthor's skyscraper?" I asked, coming over and standing a few feet behind the Dark Knight. I started looking over the screen, frowning at the measurements and notes that were written all over the screen. There was a lot there on what sort of traps Luthor usually had in his home, but there wasn't really all that much on what he might have now.

Meaning that there was a good chance I was going in mostly-blind. And I didn't like that idea.

"This is an older copy from a few years ago, before he disappeared with Darkseid," Batman responded without looking over at me. He stopped typing for a moment, then glanced over at me. "I doubt that much has changed since then."

"Considering that he's in cahoots with Megatron now, though...." I bit my lip in thought for a moment. "Something tells me he may have some Cybertronian tech in there, too."

"Megatron may hold things back."

It took me a moment in order to think of a response to that. "From a human who may bring about his own destruction? Megatron might be able to take him out, while at the same time setting up a weapon in order to destroy the rest of the world. You never know."

"I've already considered that."

What? Really? I blinked a couple times before I remembered that Batman was generally considered a pessimist.

"And?" I prompted.

"Lex Luthor has technology that could rival the technology that they have. I doubt that anything that Megatron could have would increase the technology that Luthor already owns."

I gave a nervous hum at the thought. "You can never be too sure....Those Vehicons--"

"Weren't made to be even more powerful than they already were," Batman interrupted. "It's just that those are less powerful than the real ones."

I hummed nervously again. "I dunno...if Luthor's on par with the Cybertronian tech, then they may be equally powerful. Either way, I don't want to end up running into them."

"You have techniques that can let you avoid them."

"What makes you--" I spluttered. "And how would you know?"

"Did you really think your actions would go unnoticed by the video game industry?" Batman kinda sounded annoyed.

"Video game...oh. Jack mentioned something about Capcom releasing a game with the events I went through...and I'm guessing that the tournament game that was released has got me using that ability, too."

Batman gave a nod.

"But...how would they know about any stealth techniques I may have if I didn't use them during the tournament?"

"Don't ask me," came the response.

The last time I remembered using the Light Refractor for what it was meant for was back in the Capcom realm, to help with learning about stealth. ****

...And so that I could look like I was wearing a dress of some kind to the formal party that was being held that one night. So the Master Hand had probably known about it...he must have snuck it into the game and put it in there as an extra thing I could do or something....

No time to think about that now. I've got to get into Luthor's tower and figure out what he and Megatron are planning so that the Autobots and the JLA can do something about it.

"So...how am I going to get in there?" I asked, looking up at the schematic. "Are you going to send me in through a window or something?"

"All of Luthor's personal labs are kept in the basement or mid-level floors," Batman responded instantly. Parts of the schematic were instantly highlighted in a sickly green that made me think of the Kryptonite that Luthor was usually known for carting around. "The basement floors are where he keeps his more destructive projects."

"So...am I going down there?"

"No."

Huh?

"If Luthor and Megatron are planning something, whatever it is that they're building isn't down there." Batman started typing vigorously on the keys, bringing up what looked like a real-time feed of Luthor's skyscraper in Metropolis.

It was about late evening on the East Coast, now, and I was a little bit jarred by that...I hadn't exactly been outside for a few days, so telling time by the sun was a bit jarring for me for a second.

"I've been monitoring his building for possible Energon signatures," Batman explained. "There's a high concentration of them here."

An explosion of blue light suddenly filled up the screen, concentrated mostly in the center of Luthor's skyscraper.

I blinked a couple times, taking that in. "Whoa."

"Exactly." Batman brought back the schematic of the skyscraper. "You will take the sewer system --"

"But that will take me into the basement labs, won't it?"

The Dark Knight turned his head and gave me a glare that could have killed me out of fear when I was five. All the same, it was _very_ hard to resist the urge to shudder at the sight of it.

"Luthor's labs aren't connected to the sewer system," Batman responded darkly. "If they were, I believe the entire world would have enough proof to convict him of water poisoning and the creation of monsters in Metropolis."

Oh.

"That's...a very good point," I conceded.

Batman eyed me for a moment longer, then returned his attention to the schematic on the screen. "Luthor has traps in the sewer entrances near and under the building. They're meant to kill a normal human -- or a Kryptonian, if the need arises."

I gave a slight nod, not intending to interrupt him again. One glare was enough, thank you very much.

"Considering your abilities, I doubt you're going to find it too difficult to melt anything you come across," Batman continued. "From the sewers it's possible to enter the building through hidden entrances I've made a point in installing the last time I was there."

That was surprising. Bats actually managed to put some secret passages in Luthor's building? But he lived all the way in Gotham...why go to Metropolis?

Unless he did it the last time that Luthor caused enough trouble to get his attention.

"From there, Luthor is constantly changing the layout of the upper floors, and he keeps the entire building lined with lead, making it impossible to see what exactly is going on inside."

"Considering that he knows who exactly his main enemy is..." I trailed off, then shrugged.

Batman eyed me for a moment, saying nothing. It occurred to me that I didn't know how he was planning on having me head to Metropolis.

"All right, then. Are you going to Boom Tube me there? Or am I going to have to get to Metropolis myself?"

"Superman's waiting to rendezvous with you at a portal exit," Batman responded in his usual way. As though he had said the magic words, one of the Boom Tube terminals activated, swirling in yellow and black like some sort of yellow-jacket soup.

...you know what, forget that analogy. A soup made of those pesky wasps would probably smell pretty bad.

I glanced over at Batman, who had started moving away from the computer console and over in a different direction. I guess that was his way of saying that he was going to leave me alone to take care of this.

I gave a nervous swallow, thought of all the Autobots and Justice League members who might be able to back me up if I needed help, and stepped through the Boom Tunnel and out of sight.


	30. Chapter 30

**Maria's POV**

Just like Batman had said, Superman was waiting for me on the other side of the Boom Tube, which just so happened to eject me into a dark alley that didn't seem to get any sort of light from the skyscrapers all around the area.

Just like Batman to choose the darkest places to put Boom Tube portals.

"Hey," I stated, nodding to Superman in greeting as the portal closed up behind me.

Superman gave a nod in response. "You ready to go?"

I gave a sigh and shrugged in response. "As ready as I'll ever be. Which way to Luthor, then?"

Superman motioned to an open hole in the side of the street; I could see the manhole cover leaning nearby against a wall. "Just go straight from here; you should be able to reach Luthor's building three covers down."

"Uh...okay." I blinked a couple times, considering that statement for a moment before nodding. "Do you have any advice or something like that about this?"

"Yes, actually. Use stealth as much as you can, and don't let yourself be seen by any cameras that Luthor might have down there."

Considering that Superman's aways wearing bright red and blue rather than black, I'm surprised that he actually told me to be as stealthy as possible.

"Meaning I shouldn't destroy any of his cameras," I noted.

Superman nodded. "That would make him suspicious. If you find any weapons, though, you can make those malfunction."

Ah. Batman did mention something about there being weapons hiding down there at the entrances to his building and labs.

I nodded again, then gave a slight smile. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

Superman gave another nod. "I'll remain in the area if you need any help."

That's a bit of a relief. I just hope Luthor hasn't shown Megatron how to use Kryptonite.

I gave Supes a smirk, then jumped down into the sewer.

As soon as I landed knee-deep in the water, my nose recoiled to the smells that made up the sewer system below the city. I had been in one before, back on one of the other worlds, but that one was a little better in the way of general smell. Metropolis' sewer system? It was way worse than the one in Castelia of Unova, believe me.

"At least I shouldn't be down here for too long," I muttered under my breath. I started moving forward through the pipe, looking around to see if there was a way that I could move out of the water and onto dry ground. I didn't want to end up stepping in something that would end up forcing me to clean out my gears down there later.

...that's going to take some getting used to, thinking about cleaning off gears more than cleaning off skin.

I managed to find a walk way running along one side of the sewage pipe, and I climbed up onto it using a nearby ladder. I shook out my metal boots to get rid of what I could of the sewage water, and then I got moving down the pipe, watching for manhole covers and security cameras. I ended up finding that a bit difficult, because the idea of cleaning out my gears ended up ticking the back of my mind...almost insistently.

I guess I couldn't fully let go of that idea. Somewhere in me, I was still used to the idea that I was at least a little bit human, somewhere under my armor. But that couldn't be possible anymore, if I was remembering correctly what exactly had happened when I got turned into a Reploid in the first place.

...to be honest, I should have probably considered asking Arcee and the others how they take care of themselves, since I'm kinda-sorta like them.

I shook myself out of my thoughts and turned my attention back to the sewers.

It took me a while before I ended up running into anything that hinted at what Luthor might have added to the sewer systems. That first security camera and the machine gun attached to it really caught me by surprise, mainly because I was looking for manhole covers. I had found my second one when I was almost on top of the machine gun.

I didn't exactly consider it to be "fun" to be dancing away from the bullets that were coming at me, even though I'm technically invulnerable to that kind of thing.

"Eat fire!" I growled, throwing a Fire Sphere at the gun. Somehow, I managed to make sure it stayed there long enough in order to get the open end of the machine gun to melt. As soon as the fireball fizzled out, though, I heard a beeping noise of some kind and turned my head upon hearing the noise.

There was a security camera staring right at me.

Well, so much for being stealthy.

Acting quickly, I blasted the camera with another Fire Sphere, then activated my Light Refractor and took off down the walkway at a dead run, watching out for more guns and the third manhole cover that Superman had mentioned. I ended up melting a few more guns before I finally managed to find that manhole cover.

And the cover had Batman's insignia on it. Considering that Superman knew about it, I guess this kind of thing is common knowledge sometimes.

I looked around again to see if there were any more of those cameras nearby, and when I didn't find any, I activated the jet boosters in my boots and flew up to the top of the sewage pipe before I started to push up on the manhole cover.

Surprisingly, it was actually pretty easy to get a thick disk of metal to move up and over so that I could climb out of the stinkpit that is the sewers. Where I ended up though...it was on a whole different level of creepy.

"Looks like I'm in Luthor's basement," I muttered to myself, looking around the area. "Sure looks like a lab of some kind."

_*No, really?*_

If I could have, I would have jumped out of my boots in surprise upon hearing that voice.

"Inferno!" I hissed under my breath, moving the manhole cover back into place. "Why are you talking to me now?"

_*I'm getting bored watching you sneak around so badly that you make Bulkhead look like a stealth master*_

"Ouch," I muttered. I looked over the area again to get a feeling of where exactly I was in Luthor's basement. The entire area had some pretty dim lighting, but I could clearly see some of the mechanical equipment that was scattered around. A lot of it towered pretty high up over my head, in fact.

 _*This place reminds me of some of..._ Frankenstein's _labs*_ Inferno muttered. _*Be glad you didn't bring Joshua with you this time -- Blitzen would have made him have a heart attack*_

Frankenstein? That name made me think back to the old black-and-white film we had seen a few years back on Halloween. Did Inferno have a run-in with the guy who made that monster?

 _*"Frankenstein" is a code name we use for one of our enemies*_ Inferno explained. There she goes, reading my thoughts again. _*There's a reason we called him that*_

"Really?" I started to move forward around the machinery, looking around for security cameras or any sort of guard duty that Luthor might have set up down here. The video games involving this kind of thing were never easy, so I didn't think that I was going to have an easy time of it, either.

_*Yeah. If you're lucky, you won't end up running into him at all*_

"What makes you say that?" I put my back up against what looked like some kind of computer tower that had been magnified about fifty times. I glanced around a corner and looked around the area ahead of me, frowning a little bit when I saw that there wasn't any sign of anyone or anything that resembled a force that I had to avoid.

That just made me even more nervous.

 _*Frankenstein just isn't a person that you want to meet anywhere, believe me*_ Inferno paused for a moment while I continued to scan the area from where I stood, then commented, _*Something's wrong. This is too quiet*_

"Preaching to the choir," I muttered, using one of my dad's more common sayings. I started moving forward again, glancing over my shoulder and in every direction while I looked for a way up to the next level.

 _*Still, we should be on guard. No telling when or where we could get ambushed*_ Inferno's voice started to sound a little angry at the end for some reason, but I wasn't about to ask her why. I had to concentrate on where I was and where I had to go so that I wouldn't be the one caught off guard.

Still...Inferno's statements were really starting to bug me for some reason, and I really had no idea why. I didn't really have time to find out, either.

Because when I finally did manage to find the stairs that led up to the floors that weren't made of personal lab parts, something suddenly dashed in from behind me somewhere and slammed into me. My systems were instantly encased in electricity that wrecked havoc on _everything._

Before I could do anything to get away from the electrical problem, my Reploid body did the one thing that it could do without me giving it an order: it shut all of my systems down, sending me into what I later learned went by the term "stasis lock" among Cybertronians.

**Time Break -- 3rd POV**

Maria let out a reflexive groan as her systems started to come online, one by one, each one still having excess electricity running through them. The Reploid was going to have to find a way to expel all the energy, or else -- according to the system scan her body automatically ran -- she was going to end up burning out and going into standby _again._

The Reploid started to shift so that she could sit up and rub her head in order to try and alleviate herself of her headache, but she found that she was unable to move -- something was holding her down.

Maria forced her eyes open, flinching as electricity sparked and made everything around her flash a little more brightly for a moment. She shook her head in order to get her vision back to normal -- an inherited reflex from her time as a human -- and her gaze started to scan what she could.

Maria made an annoyed face when she came to the grim conclusion that she was strapped to a table in a laboratory of some kind, held down by metal bands on her arms, chest, waist, knees, and ankles so that she couldn't break free.

 _*Primus!*_ Inferno swore. _*You really think you can't break lose? Use your powers, you idiot! Fire melts metal -- this should be an easy fix*_

Before Maria could respond to the voice's statement, another voice ended up grabbing her attention.

"I was starting to wonder if I had permanently burned you out," commented a sly, smooth voice to Maria's right. The Reploid turned her head sharply, only to flinch at the resulting _zap!_ of electricity that came out of her neck, grounding on the lab table.

"Luthor," Maria snarled, glaring at the bald man standing a short distance away from her. The Reploid gave him the best Batman-esque glare she could manage while she tried to shift the excess energy into her limbs and chest in order to stoke her fires as much as she could.

However, considering that a good deal of the energy was untamed electricity, the energy transfer was a bit difficult.

Luthor seemed to take her body shifting and twitching in a different manner than just Maria transferring energy.

"Those metal cuffs are made of an alloy you won't be able to break through," the bald genius stated in a knowing, smug manner. "I made sure of it myself."

Maria's eyes narrowed at the statement. "Everyone makes mistakes."

"But not this time. I've got you all figured out." Luthor started to walk around the table that Maria was strapped to, forcing the Reploid to move her head so that she could watch what exactly the human was doing. Sparks were still flying from her armor, but they were becoming less and less frequent.

Maria could feel a well of nervous energy welling up at Luthor's statement. Did that mean he knew about her abilities?

"Now, what were you doing in my labs?" Luthor asked, pausing in his walk at Maria's feet.

The Reploid was able to lift her head up, as there wasn't a metal band around her neck, but that didn't mean that it wasn't an uncomfortable action. "Like I'm going to tell you, baldy."

Luthor simply chuckled at Maria's response, causing an uneasy, twisting feeling in Maria's chest. "Oh, I think you will."

 _*So, this is Luthor in person*_ Inferno noted. _*You'd think he'd have a shorter temper, considering that we made him pretty mad when we stopped him and Joker in Gotham and Metropolis a while back*_

Maria ignored the comment. "What makes you think that I will, _Luthor_?"

"Oh, intuition."

"I can probably one-up you on that."

Something on Luthor's face shifted, but it was gone before Maria could identify what was going through his head.

_*Maria, don't tell him about your abilities. It's more than enough that he knows you have some control over fire and Megatron knows you're a Reploid*_

Maria scowled at Inferno's statement, but said nothing in response.

"You should consider yourself lucky that it was I who managed to find you, because otherwise I doubt that you would have survived," Luthor commented, seemingly ignoring the scowl that was on Maria's face. "Otherwise, I doubt that you'd be here right now."

"What makes you say that?" Maria demanded somewhat harshly in response. She could feel that the bands that were holding her down were starting to heat up, but something in her gut told Luthor to keep talking.

Most villains liked to boast about their plans and their weaponry; Luthor did too, if the Reploid was remembering correctly. Maybe she could get him to talk, too.

"Let's just say that...my ally would rather see you dead than alive." Luthor's voice sounded cold, calculating.

 _Ally?_ Maria's eyes narrowed at the statement, wondering who exactly it was that Luthor had in the building with him that also happened to want her dead. She doubted that it was anyone from another world -- they had all been arrested in their own places. And, considering that she hadn't interacted with many of the "DC Comics" villains, that made for a pretty small list.

 _*You're forgetting that he's partnered up with Buckethead*_ Inferno growled at the back of Maria's mind.

As though Inferno had said the magic words, there came a sound of metal hitting on concrete somewhere in the dim room, and Maria's eyes moved quickly in order to find where exactly the noise was coming from.

A glint of silver metal appeared in the darkness, and a figure stepped into view right in front of Maria and behind Luthor. Maria's eyes widened when she caught sight of him.

 _*Well, isn't this just Prime!*_ Inferno swore loudly.

"Megatron!" Maria identified, her wide eyes of surprise quickly shifting to a dark glare. "How did you manage to get in here?"

Megatron's red optics narrowed as he glared down at the Reploid strapped to the table far below him. "Do you expect me to be hindered by walls and a ceiling? I can go wherever I please."

"The portal technology that these Cybertronians have at their fingertips is quite fantastic," Luthor commented, gaining Maria's attention again. "I'm surprised that I didn't think of anything like it sooner."

"Considering that we're not a race of _titans_ ," Maria growled, "who have a planet made of _metal,_ I'm not."

Green text started to run across her vision for a moment: _Excess power released; bonds malleable._

 _*About time*_ Inferno muttered.

Maria agreed with the statement. With a snarl, she increased the amount of fire that was melting the bonds and thrust herself away from Luthor and Megatron with a blast from the jet boosters in her feet.

While the show of her abilities did nothing to cause Megatron to react, Luthor stumbled back when the blast of heated air hit him full in the face. Melted bits of metal went flying in all directions.

Maria righted herself and landed on the floor of the lab, looking herself over. An expression of disgust came over her face when she realized that bits of the metal bonds were clinging to her armor.

"Remind me later to get some help from the Bots to get this stuff off," Maria muttered under her breath.

_*That won't be hard*_

"Incredible," Luthor commented, causing Maria's head to shoot up and look at the bald human. The fact that he wasn't _mad_ threw the Reploid off.

"What?" Maria repeated, not exactly sure of what she had heard.

"I've studied technology similar to this before, but I've never seen a robot with superhuman capabilities programmed in," Luthor continued, eyeing Maria with an expression that made it look like he was eyeing a piece of meat.

Maria bristled. "I'm a Reploid! I'm not some stupid drone -- I've already told Megatron that! He probably told you, since you two seem to be working together so well."

 _*Maria!*_ Inferno hissed. _*You're at a disadvantage here. This is Luthor's space -- and he knows every inch of it. You may as well be asking him to sign your death sentence!*_

Maria was about to respond to Inferno's statement when she caught sight of something flash across the faces of the human and the Decepticon. A frown flickered across her face when she saw Megatron's optics flicker from red to a different color for a millisecond; the colors were blurred so much it almost looked like the Con's optics had turned brown.

Maria took a hesitant step back, watching Luthor and Megatron as her gaze shifted from a curious frown to a hesitant one.

"Inferno...did you see what happened to their faces?" Maria asked quietly. "Because I couldn't quite catch it."

_*Their faces? Megatron's optics looked like they turned green for a second. He could be using Synthetic Energon*_

Megatron raised his right arm -- and the fusion cannon attached to it -- and aimed the business end of his weapon in Maria's direction. The Reploid took a few more steps back, fire flickering as she prepared to deflect the energy blast, when she froze.

"Uh oh," Maria stated, eyes wide as she looked at Megatron. Or, more accurately....

 _*What's with that weird-looking think on his chest?*_ Inferno asked. _*Three green circles connected into a triangle...that doesn't look like a Cybertronian faction*_

"That weird looking thing has been a nightmare of mine from watching the cartoons," Maria responded, gulping. "Scrap."

The Reploid turned tail and ran as fast as she could between to pieces of machinery and disappeared into a darker section of the lab.

_*Let's find that exit*_

That was when all the lights came on in the lab, causing Maria to flinch a little as her eyes quickly adjusted.

"You won't be able to hide from me," Megatron sneered, starting to move after them. His voice, while still sounding distinctly like him, also had some distortions in it -- almost as though there was someone speaking in time with him.

Maria, if she had been human, would have had all of her blood freeze upon hearing that. As it was, it felt like her internal temperature had dropped by twenty degrees at most.

"You're supposed to be dead!" Maria howled, looking back with recognition and terror in her eyes. "Offlined! Kaput! Thrown beyond the point of no return so that you'd never bother Earth or any other planet again!"

 _*What?*_ Inferno asked in sharp confusion.

"A mere boy and his electromagnetic abilities are not going to remove me from existence...." Megatron's red optics changed to an eerie green, causing Maria's eyes to widen.

The Reploid quickly turned around and started to pick up speed, not wanting to be caught anywhere near Megatron. Deciding that her legs weren't fast enough, she jumped into the air and activated her hoverboard, landing on the red and orange-colored piece of tech before she could hit the ground.

"I'm not going to let you get me, Brainiac!" Maria yelped in a panicked voice.


	31. Chapter 31

Matthew woke up with a rather abrupt yell and a feeling of panic welling up from somewhere. He sat in bed, panting for a moment, before another wave of the emotion hit him, sending him scrambling out of bed and onto the floor of the Darby's guest bedroom. sweating and panting heavily.

"What _is_ this?" Matthew asked himself, confused at the feeling that was now raging inside him. He closed his eyes and started to take deep breaths to calm himself...only to find himself staring face-to-face with a pair of glowing green eyes.

"Yah!" Matthew opened his eyes and scrambled back, hitting the bed behind him. Whatever it was he had just seen, it did _not_ look friendly. But what was it that he had been looking at?

He felt a prickling sensation at the back of his neck, and he reached back and rubbed the area, searching for whatever it was that was causing the irritation. However, he didn't find it, and the prickling sensation only increased in intensity.

"What--"

_*Matthew, son of Morgen, calm yourself*_

Matthew stiffened upon hearing the voice echo in his mind. He started to look around the dark room, trying to see if there was someone in there with him.

"Who's there?" Matthew called out, frowning.

_*I do not have a physical form at this moment, I'm afraid*_

"Uh...." Matthew blinked a couple times, his eyes still scanning the room. "Then...are you a ghost?"

_*Not even that. I have been residing in a small corner of your mind for some time, now, and this is the first time that I've been able to reach out from my cell in order to contact you*_

Matthew wasn't exactly sure of what to make of that. "Does that mean I have multiple personality disorder?"

_*No. I am only here for a short time because of...unusual circumstances*_

Matthew was about to ask what exactly the voice meant when he was suddenly hit with a round of headaches and another glimpse at a pair of glowing green, menacing eyes that felt like they were boring into his soul.

_*Matthew!*_

The teen shook his head, clearing his head of the vision as best he could. "I-I'm fine."

_*No, you are not. I saw what you saw, as I am presently inhabiting you for however long I am going to be here. Those optics...they are extremely troubling*_

"You got that right." Matthew reached up to rub his head for a moment before freezing. "Hey, wait a sec -- 'optics' is a Cybertronian word. Where did you hear it from? And who are you, anyway?"

_*...I am called Sparkseer among my kind. As for where I heard it from...perhaps my name will be more than sufficient in revealing that*_

Matthew's frown deepened as he took in the voice's words for a moment. He paused, blinking, a moment later. "Spark...that's a Cybertronian word, too. Does that mean you have connections with their kind?"

 _*Correction, Matthew, son of Morgen: I_ am _one of "their kind"*_

That brought a boatload of other questions into Matthew's mind, but he wasn't able to ask them, because Sparkseer beat him to saying anything.

_*I understand that you are confused, but we cannot stay here. Your sister is in grave danger, and must not be allowed to stay where she is for long*_

That got Matthew into a more alert state. "What? Maria's in trouble?"

_*Indeed. Those optics had a foreboding feel about them, did they not?*_

"Yeah...."

_*I have seen much of what you and your family have seen in what you call "cartoons" and "comic books" over the years, and considering the present situation and the evidence that has been presented to us...there is only one being who has a glow such as that in their optics*_

Matthew blinked a couple times. "I'm not following."

_*I believe your sister called him..."Brainiac"? Does that sound correct?*_

Upon hearing _that_ , Matthew's eyes widened. "Brainiac?! You can't be serious!"

There came the sound of feet slamming against the floor outside the guest bedroom, and the door was flung open, revealing June Darby and her son Jack standing out in the hall with confused and concerned looks on their faces.

"We heard you yelling from our rooms," June explained, coming in. "Are you all right?"

Matthew looked up at the woman who had been giving him shelter during his stay in this world. "Uh...I'm not exactly sure." He started to get up to his feet, rubbing the back of his head as he went.

"What happened?" Jack asked. "You said 'Brainiac' right before we got in here. Wasn't that the guy who kept trying to destroy our planet a few years ago? The one that got destroyed in Dakota?"

Matthew felt like he'd been jolted, and he shook his head vigorously. "He's not destroyed yet."

Jack and June looked at Matthew for a moment before exchanging glances, considering what it was that their guest had said.

"Explain," June stated, turning to look at Matthew again.

"I just got my first bout of visions," Matthew responded, "and I'm getting the feeling that Maria's in big trouble. I need to go and find her _now."_

**Space Break**

Meanwhile, Maria's situation had just gotten worse. Much worse.

The Reploid let out a yell and blasted away a mechanical hand with a Buster shot, sending it careening back into the machine it had come from. This ended up resulting in a small explosion that sent tendrils of fire flying in every direction.

"Flash Fire!" Maria called out, holding out her left hand towards the flames. She zoomed over the fire on her hoverboard, picking up more energy by sucking up with flames below her. Maria then flipped around and fired another Buster shot -- this time directly at Megatron. The shot of orange energy simply bounced off the Con's silver armor.

Maria paled, then turned around sharply and zoomed off in another direction, desperately looking for the Batman-styilized manhole cover that she had used in order to get in.

 _*I don't think you're going to be able to find it*_ Inferno warned grimly. _*Megatron probably found it and sealed it shut*_

"Inferno, that is _not_ Megatron," Maria hissed in a panicked tone. "That is Brainiac, who is in control of Megatron. I doubt the Con even knows what's going on right now!"

A bright green blast of energy came in below Maria, blasting a piece of machinery that was in front of her. The Reploid charged up with more energy and continued flying about, glancing back.

"Besides, isn't he a better shot than this?" Maria added.

Inferno grumbled something, then conceded, _*All right, fine. So he's being mind-controlled by a computer virus. What now?*_

"We keep it away from me and everybody else."

Maria said the statement with some conviction, but it didn't exactly help her very much, considering that she felt like un unstable bubble of panic at that moment. All she could think of was trying to find a way out...or doing something that might stop Brainiac in his tracks.

Although, considering that meant getting close and possibly getting turned into a puppet herself....Maria shuddered at the thought and continued flying, blasting any mechanical arms that ended up getting too close. Flames flickered on her shoulders as excess, pent-up energy as a result of her panic tried to release themselves from her body.

Unfortunately, in her panicked state, Maria didn't notice the destroyed machines rebuilding themselves behind her until mechanical arms snaked in -- seemingly from out of nowhere -- and entrapped Maria in a tight snare.

"Gah!" Maria yelped as her hoverboard flew out from under her feet and crashed into a wall, riderless. The loss of her moving platform did nothing to affect where Maria was in the air; the mechanical tentacles held her up in a tight grip that grated against her armor. It made the Reploid wonder if she was going to get any dents from this.

 _*You're worrying about dents and you've just been caught?!*_ Inferno demanded incredulously. _*Primus, you're as bad as Sunstreaker! You have to get out of this now, before that virus gets us!*_

That sent another wave of panic through Maria, and she started to struggle vigorously, raising her internal temperature as much as possible so that she could melt her way out of her bonds, like she did before.

"That won't work this time," Brainiac noted, his footsteps shaking the ground as he walked over in Megatron's form. Luthor tailed behind the Con, a blank expression on the human's face. "These arms are made of an alloy that would need volcanic temperatures to be melted."

Maria looked up at Megatron in shock and fear, her blue eyes widening. "Volcanic...?"

A determined expression crossed the Reploid's face, and she started to concentrate on her energy reserves.

_*Maria--*_

"I know what I'm doing," Maria muttered shortly in response to Inferno. "Trust me." The Reploid clenched her fists tightly as fire started to materialize on her shoulders.

"Resistance is futile," Luthor called up from below, sounding somewhat robotic. Maria could see him aiming what looked like a purple and green bazooka at her from out of the corner of her eye. The Reploid, not liking the sight of it, stiffened up as she tried to get as much energy as she could prepped for an attack with volcanic proportions.

 _*Maria!*_ Inferno called out in warning. _*If you do this, you'll end up under their control anyway!*_

"I could end up something else, too," Maria muttered under her breath in response. "I'm not about to let him have me and what powers I have."

Inferno didn't say anything to that -- she didn't have the time to. Because Maria took the initiative and blasted all of the gathered energy out of her in one shockwave of heat and fire.

"White Flare: 125 percent!" Maria screamed. "Overheat!"

The resulting blast of fire clung to Maria's bonds in molten chunks, melting the mechanical arms that were holding her in the air. The blast of heat that came out from Maria also caused Luthor to stumble back, dropping the bazooka that had been in his hands.

However, a blast of that magnitude from Maria was extremely draining. The Reploid fell to the floor of the lab, letting out a pained yell as she hit the concrete floor.

_Warning: Energy reserves low. Recharge required. Stasis lock imminent._

_*That was quite the show*_ Inferno commented dryly, _*But now you can't move, and Mega-Brainiac is at your helm. What are you going to do now?*_

Maria let out a groan in response. Her head was aching and felt like it was being stepped on, and her body was _waaay_ too heavy for her to be able to move.

"Intriguing," Megatron/Brainiac noted from above Maria. "For a Reploid to have abilities similar to that of superhumans, and with this level of power, is unprecedented. I will be sure to study this much more closely."

The Reploid lifted her head from the ground weakly and looked up tiredly at the large, silver servo that was coming down towards her. Her vision flickered in and out, static running across like Maria was looking at a malfunctioning TV.

Megatron's servo had nearly reached Maria when what seemed like a muffled yell to the Reploid came through the air.

The servo paused mere inches from Maria's body. Maria blinked up at it for a moment before letting her head collapse back on the ground, energy drained from just lifting up her head.

"Megatron, stop where you are!" came a muted rumble.

Maria felt as though the voice was vibrating through her circuits. Whoever had spoken, though, she was unable to see, but she could barely make out the effects of it -- Megatron's servo was slowly moving away from her.

"Maria!" A blurry figure ran over to Maria and got down into a kneeling position next to the Reploid. "Are you all right?"

The Reploid's eyes narrowed slightly as she tried to see who exactly was there in front of her. However, her eyes wouldn't clear; instead, her eyes seemed to become more static-filled. She tried to open her mouth and say something, but her voice didn't respond to her need to speak.

"Maria..." Hands reached out and started to pull Maria to her feet, but she wasn't able to do anything to keep herself upright.

**Change in POV -- Matthew**

Matthew let out a grunt as he tried to pull Maria to her feet. The expression on her face reminded him of when some people had stumbled out of bed half-asleep. He wondered if the fact that the room was _really_ warm had something to do with it.

He glared up at Megatron as the Decepticon looked at Optimus, strangely green optics matching perfectly with the shade of the Ground Bridge that was behind the Autobot.

Personally, Matthew found the sight extremely unnerving.

 _*Maria is low on energy*_ Sparkseer noted.

"Megatron, what madness is this?" Optimus demanded in a grim tone. "What is it that is afflicting you?"

"It's not an affliction, Optimus!" Matthew called back in warning. "It's like I told you back at the base -- he's got a rogue, mind-controlling computer virus stuck in his head! Don't get too close to him!"

Maria let out an indecipherable groan, sounding almost like she was trying to say something, but it was impossible to tell what.

_*Matthew, do you think it might be possible for you to give Maria some of your Spark energy?*_

"It's Aura," Matthew muttered under his breath. "And I don't know."

"I would not call it an affliction," Megatron stated in response to Optimus' statement. Matthew's unease increase as he realized that the Decepticon's voice sounded...like there was someone speaking in unison with him.

"I would call it a liberation. Everything is so clear to me, now." Megatron grinned wickedly. "Why don't you join us? I'm sure you would appreciate the same clarity."

"Optimus....." Matthew muttered in warning.

The Prime's optics narrowed. "I do not wish to join with something that has brought the human race as much suffering as it has." His right hand shifted into his blaster. "Matthew, take Maria and leave through the Ground Bridge. I will handle Megatron."

"You do that, and you could end up getting turned anyway!" Matthew responded resolutely. "Brainiac will find a way to get to you, too!"

"Your concern is duly noted. Take Maria and get out of here now."

Matthew opened his mouth to respond to the Prime's statement, but then Sparkseer interrupted him. _*Matthew, take Optimus' order and go. He will be able to defend himself. If nothing else, do this for your sister*_

Matthew spluttered for a moment, looking up at Megatron and Optimus for a moment before looking at his sister. She looked like she was asleep on her feet, and he was starting to have a hard time keeping her upright. Eventually, he gave a slight nod, then turned and started for the Ground Bridge.

"I admire your tenacity, Optimus Prime," Megatron noted, inclining his head. "Know this: our fight will not end here. I will allow you to leave alive and unharmed for now, but you will join me in the future."

Matthew didn't like the sound of that. It didn't seem that Optimus did, either.

"Megatron...." Optimus' optics narrowed.

"Go." Megatron made a motion with one servo; Matthew could have sworn for a second that his optics flickered red. "I cannot promise that I will be so gracious if you stay a moment longer."

Something about that made Optimus gain an uncertain expression before giving a slight nod. He turned and started to move to the Ground Bridge, glancing back at Megatron over one shoulder as he went. Matthew pulled Maria with him as he moved after the Autobot and into the Ground Bridge.

"Matthew, you were not very specific when you spoke of what malady it is that has overcome Megatron," Optimus rumbled as they walked through the green energy that made up the Ground Bridge. "You mentioned a virus, but you did not mention specifically what kind of virus."

Matthew looked up at the Autobot, blinking a couple times before gaining an embarrassed expression. "Sorry. I was kind of in a rush."

"How did you know that your sister was in trouble?"

"I..." Matthew looked at his sister for a moment. "I had my first vision. Kinda left me with a nasty headache when I woke up."

"...I see. And this 'Brainiac' of which you spoke of?"

"I'll explain about it when we get back to the base. I promise." Matthew looked at his sister again. "But I'm worried about Maria. She probably used up a lot of energy before we got to her."

"I will have Ratchet have a look at her when we return," Optimus responded.

The trio soon stepped out of the Ground Bridge and back into the Autobot base, where Mrs. Darby, Jack, Ratchet, Arcee, and Jazz were standing in the main room of the base.

Ratchet shut down the Ground Bridge and quickly turned and moved over to Optimus, Matthew, and Maria. "Why did you two rush out of the base like that? What--" He stopped when he saw how the Reploid was leaning against Matthew.

"She's lost a lot of energy," Matthew explained. "I think she tried one of her White Flare attacks on Megatron and Luthor before we got there."

"Ratchet, is it possible that you could do something for her?" Optimus rumbled.

"Maria isn't an Autobot, Optimus," Ratchet warned in response, frowning. "What makes you think that I might be able to do something?"

"Ratchet." Optimus gave the medic a meaningful look that seemed to say to Matthew that the Prime didn't want to get into an argument right at that point.

Ratchet scowled at Optimus for a moment, then sighed and rolled his optics before moving over to Matthew. He held out a servo to the teenager, and he slid the now-unconscious Maria off his shoulder and let her roll into Ratchet's servo.

"I'll see what I can do," Ratchet stated, getting back up to his full height before moving to walk out of the room. "How exactly did Maria come into the situation that forced her to expel the energy that you're suggesting?"

"She was in Luthor's building in Metropolis," Matthew responded. "She ran into a little more trouble than she could handle, and ended up using White Flare as a last resort. It didn't exactly work."

"I should think not," Ratchet responded dryly. He turned and walked out of the room the rest of the way, disappearing down an adjoining corridor.

"So, you guys saw Megatron and Luthor?" Jack asked, looking back and forth between the Matthew and Optimus.

"Well, I didn't see Luthor," Matthew admitted, frowning. "I don't know where he was. Megatron was there, though."

"And he was acting strangely," Optimus agreed. "It seems that, as Matthew surmised upon arriving on base, Megatron is being affected by a virus of some kind."

"He mentioned Brainiac when we were leaving the house," Nurse Darby noted. "I don't know what specifically that means, but I remember hearing something about it on the news when Luthor was arrested _again_ for crimes against Metropolis." The woman sounded annoyed.

"Brainiac is an alien computer virus," Matthew stated in reply. "You don't want to get anywhere near him; trust me."

"If he's a virus, I wouldn't think that he would even _be_ a 'he'," Arcee commented.

Matt frowned. "I'm not really all that good at explaining things. All I can tell you for certain is that this guy has been around for a long time and he wants to destroy the planet while also taking over other people. He did that with Megatron, and he's done it before with Luthor. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up coming after you guys eventually, too, since he already knows about you guys being on the planet."

Jack and his mother exchanged glances while Optimus's optics narrowed.

"Does this 'Brainiac' have any weaknesses?" Optimus asked.

"Maybe. I don't know -- Maria's more of a comic book buff for this kind of thing than I am. Batman and the other Justice League members might know, though -- they've run into him multiple times already."

"Then we will contact the Justice League and ask them for guidance in this matter. In the meantime, you may rest here for the rest of the night cycle."

"Thanks, Optimus," Jack stated, nodding to Optimus. He looked between his mother and Matthew. "Come on. I know where the guest bedrooms are from when we stayed the nights here sometimes before Unicron happened."

Matthew gave a nod, then followed after Jack and his mother into an adjoining corridor. As they left the main room of the base, he glanced back at Optimus and Arcee, who were both exchanging serious glances.

Something told him that things might end up getting worse from here. Much worse.


	32. Recovery

Maria let out a groan from where she was lying on the ground. She started to sit up, but her entire body responded with such a scream of _pain_ that she just remained lying on the ground, panting heavily and looking up at the blue sky--

_Wait a second._

Maria knew that the last thing that she could remember was getting picked up by...by someone. Her mind was fuzzy on those last moments right after she had released the White Flare attack. Whatever had happened after that....

"Matthew picked you up." The head of a young woman with red-gold hair appeared in Maria's vision. "Last I was able to see with your eyes, we were walking into the base. Megatron let us go without infecting Optimus or your brother."

Maria looked at the figure above her in confusion for a moment before frowning. "He...let us go? But why?"

"I'm not sure. Something tells me we'll figure out soon enough." Inferno's strangely glowing blue gaze locked with Maria's own blue eyes. "You could have offlined yourself back there, you know."

Maria flinched as a wave of pain wracked her body suddenly. "I kinda had that in mind, I guess."

"What?! Maria, are you nuts? What would your family think if they heard about that? Committing suicide is _not_ an option in war!" Inferno paused when she noticed Maria flinch again. "Your body is trying to recover by drawing on its reserves. And because you nearly drained those with that _stupid_ bomb move you tried to pull, it's starting to tear your Spark and body apart a little."

"And how exactly are you going to expect me...to do anything about it?" Maria responded, gritting her teeth as another wave of pain hit her.

"You won't be doing anything," Inferno responded. "We're back at base, remember? The others will figure something out."

"I hope so...." Maria's voice trailed off as she gained an uncertain expression. "What are we going to tell Batman?"

"We?" Inferno frowned. "Don't you go pulling me into this. I'm not the one that Batman sent into Luthor's tower -- you went in alone."

"But you're in my head, so I'm never alone," Maria retorted, frowning at the woman above her.

Inferno let out a sigh of annoyance. "But no one else knows that I'm in your head, so you were sent in alone. As for what you're going to tell Batman, I think that much is obvious, considering who's decided to show up."

That statement left Maria with a grim feeling in her gut. "That...I'm not looking forward to telling him that. We all thought that he was dead and gone -- how are they going to react when I tell them wrong?"

"Superheroes have been wrong before. If they hear that you were wrong about something, they won't hold it against you."

"B-but I've made it look like I do know everything there is to know about the DC realm!" Maria started to sit up so that she could focus better on Inferno. "If I tell them that I got one thing wrong, how do you think they're going to react to that?" The Reploid gave a sigh and ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm way too inexperienced at this...."

"Says the kid who saved the world a good number of times on one of the other planets," Inferno pointed out dryly.

"And then I left it to face an even bigger problem because I got pulled away to another place!" Maria gave a sigh. "If I had gone back to Neo-Mobius, I might not have the Protocol right now."

"If you had gone back to Neo-Mobius, who knows what would have happened to MegaMan," Inferno countered. "Khrista took care of Neo-Mobius, and you handled Neo-Earth. I think that you don't need to worry too much about that."

Maria blinked, looking at Inferno with a blank expression while she considered what it was that had been said. The Reploid thought back to all the TV shows that she had watched and tried to think of whenever the characters within them had not seen something coming.

The Reploid pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs, frowning worriedly. "...maybe you're right. But that still doesn't make me not worry about what's coming."

Inferno snorted, but said nothing else.

Now that Maria was actually upright, she could see more of where it was that she had ended up in her dreams. The Reploid blinked in confusion for a moment before frowning.

"Inferno...where are we?" Maria motioned to the hill of metal that the two were sitting on, then looked out at a strange city with dome-shaped buildings in the distance. "I don't recognize this place."

Inferno let out a gruff sigh. "I didn't think that you would." She got up from where she had been sitting to Maria's left, then held a hand in order to help the Reploid get up. "Come on. Let me give you the grand tour."

"Grand tour of what?"

Inferno gave a sly half-smile. "Of one of the cities on my home planet."

That threw Maria for a bit of a loop. "What? This is your home planet?" She motioned around to the metal landscape around them.

Inferno gave a nod.

"But...you're human. How would you be able to survive in a place like this?"

Inferno's half-smile became a knowing smirk. "What makes you think that I'm human, Maria?"

The Reploid blinked in confusion at the statement, but before she could ask Inferno what exactly she meant, Inferno grabbed her wrist and started dragging her towards the domed city ahead of them.

"Before we get into the city, there's something else that I should probably tell you," Inferno continued, glancing back at Maria. "You remember me saying how I know the Cybertronians?"

"Uh..." It took Maria a moment to think of what exactly it was Inferno was referring to, but she finally nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"There's a reason for that. And you're going to figure out why when we get into the city."

Maria frowned in confusion at Inferno's statement. "What?"

"Like I said, you'll see."

Despite the large size of the hill, Inferno and Maria somehow managed to get down it and across the plain-like area between the hill and the city. It wasn't too long before they were walking the streets, looking over the different yet extremely similar buildings.

"What is this place?" Maria asked, looking in awe at the sleek, uniform appearance of the buildings around them.

"One of the big cities that make up the planet's population," Inferno responded, shrugging. "My home's practically on the other side of the world, but I used to consider this place home, too."

Maria frowned. "Used to?"

Inferno let out a sigh. "A lot's happened to the planet. It probably doesn't even look like this anymore." She motioned to the domed buildings that rose high above them. "And I bet that everyone would give everything they had to getting this place back to normal."

"...Then, what does it look like now?"

Inferno gave a dry laugh. "I don't know; I haven't been at home for the last twelve years." She gained a serious, almost grim expression. "Although, considering that Optimus and the others are on Earth...."

Maria blinked in confusion. "What do they have to do with all this?" A frown flickered across her face. "Hang on...you wouldn't happen to have known them when you were on your planet, would you?"

Inferno glanced over at Maria with a deadpan expression that made it look like she was annoyed for some reason. "You still haven't figured it out?" When the Reploid's clearly confused expression persisted, Inferno gave an annoyed sigh. "Yes, I did know them, but I knew alternate versions of the ones you've been interacting with."

"How do you know?"

"I can tell."

Inferno's response was so terse that it made Maria shut up for a while, allowing for Inferno to lead the Reploid through the empty streets of the city, not bothering to stop to point out different buildings. It ended up giving Maria some time to think, and think she did.

"How are we going to get you out of my head and back to your version of Optimus and the Autobots?" Maria finally spoke up as the two continued walking.

"We'll figure something out," Inferno responded. "We have to find my allies first, though."

"Yeah, about that. Um...what are your allies called? Maybe we can figure out who has them if we ask if they've heard their names."

Inferno stopped moving along the street for a moment, considering what exactly Maria had asked her. Maria stood a short distance from her, watching curiously.

"Well, we already know where Blitzen is," Inferno finally commented. "The other members of my team go by the codenames Odin...and Arsenal. And then there's Coil."

"Coil?" Maria repeated, confused. "That's an actual name of one of your team?"

"More like the little brother," Inferno corrected, nodding. She looked around the buildings again, a frown flickering across her face for a moment. "We're almost there. Just a few nanokliks down this street, and we should be there."

"Nanokliks?"

Inferno didn't answer Maria's question; she was already running down the street. The Reploid had to move quickly in order to catch up, and when she did, she found Inferno standing in front of the largest domed building in the area, with strange symbols running along the edge of the domed roof.

"This is the Hall of Records," Inferno explained, not taking her gaze off the building. "It's an extremely important building, because it has records of pretty much everything."

"Everything with your planet?" Maria asked in silent awe, looking at Inferno. When the woman gave a nod in response, the Reploid looked back up at the building for a moment and scanned over the symbols that went around the building.

A moment later, however, the symbols started to flicker and change. Maria was surprised to find that, a moment later, they had changed into English.

"Autobot Headquarters?" Maria asked, blinking. She couldn't believe what she had just read. She turned and looked at Inferno, who was eyeing the Reploid with an almost expectant expression. "You guys had Autobots on your home planet?"

Inferno gained a deadpan expression. "You still haven't gotten it through your head?" She snorted. "Maybe a trip inside will jog your memory."

Inferno grabbed Maria's wrist and started into the building; the Reploid simply looked at her in confusion as she followed the woman through the main doors and into the building.

That was when everything seemed to change from silent to loud, and Maria noticed a _big_ difference in _size_ \-- specifically, her own.

"Whoa...." Maria looked around the area that they were now in, gawking at the large, robotic figures that were standing about in the room. Some were sitting at what looked like large desks, holographic monitors around them as they worked away at something. The Reploid was able to recognize some of them, if only because of their armor color and their faces.

"Arcee, Jazz, Ratchet...." Maria turned slowly in the room, not believing what it was that she was seeing. "Are all of these Autobots?"

"They are," came a rumbling voice in response to the statement. It sounded feminine, and strangely familiar....

Maria turned slowly again, and she caught sight of a large Cybertronian that she didn't recognize: armor colored in red and orange flames; slight feminine build, but with more to her than Arcee....

Something about the sight made Maria's chest twinge a little, but she wasn't exactly sure why.

The red-and-orange femme knelt down and held out a servo; Maria climbed on with awe clear in her eyes.

"Who are you?" Maria asked softly.

The femme's crystalline, blue optics frowned, somewhat amused. "You don't recognize me, Maria? It's Inferno."

Maria blinked for a moment, then did a double-take. "Wait; _what?_ This is what you really look like?"

"Yeah. Surprised?"

"Dumbfounded." Maria gave Inferno an amazed look. "I didn't think that you looked like a Cybertronian."

"Kid, I _am_ a Cybertronian."

Maria blinked a couple times, taking that statement in. "Really? Then...we're on Cybertron?"

"In my memory banks." Inferno started walking, weaving past the desks and the other Cybertronians, who didn't bother to look up from their work. "Do you know where we are?"

"Um...not really." Maria shrugged helplessly.

Inferno made a huffing noise. "The Hall of Records is in Iacon, Maria. Remember what Ratchet told you about Optimus' past?"

"Optimus...." Maria frowned for a moment, trying to think about what exactly Inferno was referencing. Something slipped into mind -- a memory of sitting in the base, talking with the Autobots' medic...while Optimus was down in the core of the planet taking on Unicron.

"Optimus was an archivist," Maria commented, frowning. "Does that mean he worked in the Hall of Records?"

Inferno gave a nod. "Making it our base of operations kind of fits now, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it kinda does." Maria gained a slight smile. "So, where to now?"

"...there's something I should probably tell you," Inferno commented. The Cybertronian walked out of the room and down another corridor before approaching another room.

"What kind of something?" Maria asked, looking up at Inferno curiously as Inferno stepped into the next room.

Inferno stopped and lowered her servo, allowing for Maria to step off it onto a metal table of some kind. The Reploid stood there, looking up at the Cybertronian with no small amount of confusion.

"There's a lot going on behind the two of us," Inferno commented, looking down at Maria with an expression that the Reploid couldn't identify. "For one thing, we actually met over twelve years ago, not on Neo-Mobius."

Maria blinked a couple times. "What?" She frowned, her blue eyes darkening. "But how is that possible? I don't remember--"

"Exactly," Inferno interrupted. "You don't remember. But your parents do -- they just don't know that I'm stuck in your head."

Maria was starting to become even more confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Maybe this will refresh your memory." Inferno leaned down so that Maria and she could look each other eye-to-optic. "My code name, Inferno, was given to me by you, your parents, and Matthew. We used that and the English language up on Cybertron so that Soundwave wouldn't be able to understand what it was that we were saying. Your father came up with that idea, as well as a good number of the code names. You were essential in getting Megatron's."

"Buckethead."

The word slipped out of Maria's mouth automatically, leaving her with an expression of confusion. Inferno seemed to take note of it.

"Exactly," Inferno confirmed, nodding. "You and Matthew yelled back and forth about it until Morgen decided it was a good code name."

"But...how? Optimus doesn't know us."

"He doesn't know us _here,"_ Inferno corrected. "Why do you think those natural disasters happened on your Earth in the same way they did here? Face facts, Maria -- this world and yours are the same when it comes to my kind. To the war. And I came from a Cybertron in _your_ corner of the universe -- one _you_ visited back when you were only five Orbital-Cycles old." Inferno reached out with a digit and poked Maria in the chest, sending the Reploid stumbling back a little.

"B-but -- that's impossible!" Maria exclaimed.

"Is it?" Inferno countered. "Your parents told you that they were World Jumpers, Maria. Is it really so impossible to believe that they couldn't have jumped to our world right in the middle of the war?"

Maria opened her mouth in order to respond to this, but paused, blinking, when she started to consider Inferno's words.

"Well--"

Maria cut herself off when she caught sight of the world around her and Inferno starting to change and flicker, fading in and out of existence. The Cybertronian seemed to notice.

"Looks like your systems are rebooting," Inferno noted. "We'll have to continue this talk later."

Maria blinked a couple times out of surprise at the statement before asking, "Inferno?"

"Yeah?"

"What exactly _is_ your real name?"

Inferno blinked a couple times, then frowned slightly, appearing as though she was considering her answer while the memory of Iacon continued to blur around them.

"You'll remember it," Inferno finally stated. "It won't be that hard."


	33. Chapter 33

_Systems online. Energy reserves: 100%. Activating sensory systems._

Maria let out a grunt and opened her eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the light above her. Then she started to sit up, surprised at how easy it was to actually move.

It surprised her so much that she nearly went rolling head over heels across the large, metal table that she was sitting on.

"Whoa!" Maria yelped in surprise, moving to keep herself steady as much as possible. She looked down at her hands for a moment, clenching and unclenching them, surprised at how fluid the movement was. "I haven't felt like _this_ before...."

The Reploid heard the loud, metal footsteps of what she figured was a Cybertronian approaching, and she turned her head in order to see who exactly was coming.

Ratchet entered through the large doorway that happened to be there, looking down at a datapad and scowling at it with an expression of clear concentration.

Maria didn't exactly like the look that was on his face.

"What's wrong?" the Reploid asked as Ratchet came over to what looked like a computer monitor with a bunch of medical equipment.

"It seems that your systems are adapting to the Energon a little _too_ we--" Ratchet cut himself off and nearly dropped the datapad in his servo while he looked at Maria in shock. "You're up so soon?!"

"Soon?" Maria repeated in confusion, frowning. "What do you mean, 'soon'?"

"According to my calculations, you should be out for another twelve hours while your systems rebooted!" Ratchet looked dumbfounded and amazed at the same time. "How is it that you're up now?"

Maria blinked a couple times, then shrugged helplessly. "Don't look at me; I'm still thrown for a loop sometimes with this Reploid form of mine." She frowned slightly. "How long was I out, anyway?"

"It's only been...." Ratchet checked the datapad in his servo for a moment. "Almost twelve hours. Considering how badly damaged your systems were by the energy drain, I would have thought that you would have run your systems down to more manageable energy levels before waking. After all, your systems need to adjust to the Energon flow."

"What? Energon flow?"

"Indeed."

Green flickered across Maria's vision for a moment, and she let out a rather abrupt complaining noise as she felt something tickle her systems.

"Your body was practically tearing itself apart searching for energy to recharge," Ratchet commented. "Including attempting to absorb the light in the room, which it also found to be inadequate. Considering that you had what might be considered a Spark, I took what you humans refer to as a 'leap of faith'."

"Whoa...." Maria looked down at her hands again for a moment, taking in what it was that Ratchet had said. "So, does that technically mean I'm like a mini Cybertronian or something?"

"Possibly. However, just because you can make use of Energon does not make you a Cybertronian." Ratchet looked over the data that he had picked up from Maria's scan. "Well, your systems seem to be in working order, but I wouldn't go and push yourself too much as of yet. Considering that your power relies on fire in order to operate, it's highly likely that the results could be more...explosive, if you use them."

"Okay. I'll keep that in mind." Maria slid off the metal table she had been lying on and landed on the floor with a _clang._ "Where's everyone else?"

"Where do you think?" Ratchet gave Maria a dry look, then motioned for her to get on his servo. "We also have a few visitors that your brother insisted on calling in, and I believe I know why."

Maria blinked a couple times when she heard that, then gave a slight frown as Ratchet started moving. It didn't take her too long to remember what exactly she had last seen before blacking out. A serious expression came across her face, gaining a slightly panicked air underneath.

"Y-yeah," Maria muttered, gritting her teeth a little. "I'm...not looking forward to that."

Ratchet looked at her with a somewhat curious expression. "I understand that you ran into something that nearly killed you."

 _*She nearly killed herself trying to kill them*_ Inferno commented dryly.

Maria ignored her.

"I was trying to take them out the only way I knew," Maria admitted. "And maybe get out alive."

Ratchet snorted. "Maybe? What is going on in your mind, Maria?"

Maria frowned, then looked away from the medic. "I'm...not exactly sure why I was using _that_ , anyway. I kinda...went a little overboard. That's why my body was tearing itself apart."

"Overboard?"

"...I really wanted to take them out as much as I could. So I pushed myself as hard as I could."

Ratchet entered the main room of the base in contemplative silence, Maria having shifted to a sitting position on the medic's servo.

"Maria!"

The Reploid turned her head when she heard her name called, and she caught sight of a familiar figure standing in front of the dull green couch on one of the human-sized platforms.

"Matthew?" Maria asked, turning where she was sitting and blinking a couple times. She got to her feet and attempted to activate her hoverboard, but she got a negative response through her processor. She settled for activating her jet boosters and hovering over to the platform, landing next to her brother.

Matthew came over and gave his sister a tight hug. "Don't you _do_ that _again,_ okay? You nearly scared me to death."

Maria hummed in response. "Yeaah....I'll make sure I have a lot of extra power next time."

"There'd better not _be_ a next time," Matthew corrected. He let Maria go and looked at her with a serious expression. "What happened back there, anyway? Batman said he sent you out, but--"

"Batman?" Maria looked around the are, then caught sight of the familiar darkly-clad vigilante standing on the computer console near Optimus Prime, who had an extremely grim expression on his face.

"Ratchet mentioned you had guests brought in," Maria commented, looking over at her older brother. "Who else is here?"

"Just a couple friends from Dakota." Matthew gave a dry grin.

"Hey, Flare-Up! Good to see you up and about!"

Maria looked upon hearing the familiar voice, and she caught sight of two familiar figures hovering above the platform.

"Static! Gear!" Maria grinned in greeting. "Good to see you two."

"Especially since you're still in control of yourself," Gear commented, his playful expression turning into a more serious one as he landed. Static, on the other hand, flew around the platform a couple times before jumping off his metal saucer onto the platform.

"Matt said that Brainiac's back," the African American teen commented, frowning at Maria.

Maria blinked a couple times, then gave a grim nod. "Yeah. He is. He nearly got me, too."

Gear and Static exchanged glances upon hearing this, both of them looking nervous.

"What exactly _is_ Brainiac?" Ratchet asked, frowning. "All I am aware of is that it is a kind of virus."

Optimus and Batman looked over at Maria and Matt with serious expressions, as well, watching the two otherworlders.

The Reploid took in a breath, a nervous look on her face. "According to what I know, Brainiac actually originated on Krypton as a computer system. Somehow, it got the idea that it was meant to collect the data on every single race that lived out in the universe. Not exactly a bad idea...but then Brainiac decided that he would also destroy every single planet he collected data from. That's kinda why he got to this planet."

"He destroys entire planets?" Ratchet repeated, looking incredulous.

"Or at least the people on them," Maria responded unhappily. "How he does it, though...I think that's the scarier part. He..." The Reploid swallowed nervously. "He takes over people and computer systems with some kind of mind-control tech. That's why people call him a virus. And, if you're one of the unlucky ones, as soon as Brainiac is done with you...he orders you to kill yourself in order to cover his tracks. And now...Brainiac has control of both Lex Luthor _and_ Megatron."

There was an uncomfortable silence after Maria said this; the Reploid looked down at the ground, looking nervous.

"K-kill themselves?" Gear repeated, looking unnaturally pale.

"Hey, we got to you in time," Static responded, nudging Gear in the shoulder.

"Y-yeah, after I was almost killed being stuck _in_ him!"

"You were controlled by this virus?" Optimus rumbled.

Gear gulped. "It wasn't fun, believe me. Especially when he took over a part of the Justice League." He shuddered.

Optimus glanced over at Batman, who gained a glowering expression that clearly said he didn't want to talk about it.

"In fact, if it wasn't for Static--"

"What do you mean?" Ratchet asked, raising an optic ridge at the human.

Static gave a slight smirk. "I'm a walking EMP generator. Brainiac doesn't like that, cause I'm immune to mind control."

"He stopped Brainiac the last time, when he attacked Dakota," Maria added. "Other than him, I'd say that Superman is kind of Brainiac's biggest enemy, considering that they're from the same planet...and Supes has stopped a lot of the virus' schemes before."

"With help from some of the members of the Justice League," Batman added pointedly, scowling.

"What do you suggest, then?" Optimus inquired, looking down at the Dark Knight. "I do not intend to allow Megatron to offline himself, even if that would end our war with him. He has crimes that he must be confronted with."

Maria had an unhappy expression on her face as she nodded in agreement. "And we don't want him to destroy the planet, either."

Batman gained a dark expression. "We're going to need to play by _my_ rules."

Maria blinked a couple times, not exactly liking what exactly those rules might be entailing.

Matthew looked at his sister for a moment before returning his attention to the vigilante from Gotham. "What are you suggesting that we do?"

"We need to do something that will turn the tides in our favor. And I know where to start."

**Time Break**

Fowler did _not_ like the fact that Batman was in the base when he arrived later that day -- Miko and the others, on the other hand, weren't so unhappy upon seeing him when they finally got back to the base with the Autobots.

"What's going on?" Raf asked, looking around as he stepped out of Bumblebee's alt mode. "Why'd you ask us to get called out of school like that?"

"Yeah -- what's the trouble?" Miko looked around as she and Nurse Darby stepped out of Bulkhead. The foreign exchange student caught sight of Batman standing on the platform with Matthew, Static, Gear, and Maria, and she let out a squeal of delight.

"This isn't something that you should be excited about," Maria warned in a grim tone, frowning. "We've got big trouble -- the world may end kind."

Bulkhead and Bumblebee shifted into their robot forms while Jack arrived, getting off Arcee.

"It isn't Unicron again, is it?" Bulkhead asked, frowning.

"No," Optimus responded grimly. "It is something far, far worse."

"Ya mentioned something abou' a virus over the comm-link," Jazz noted, walking into the room. Smokescreen and the Terror Twins followed in after him. "What kind o' virus?"

"The virus is known as Brainiac among the humans," Optimus responded grimly. "According to what Maria, Static, Gear, and Batman have told us, this virus is a threat to the planet and all life that lives on it...and he has taken control of Megatron."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker exchanged glances when they heard this while the humans present looked like they weren't believing what they were hearing.

"That's impossible," Raf stated, frowning. "No one's heard anything about him for years."

"He's probably been biding his time," Matt commented. "That's what the worst villains usually end up doing in these kinds of situations."

Maria sent her brother a dark look, then let out an unhappy sigh and looked around the area again, locking eyes with Fowler -- who was staying near the human-sized elevator -- before speaking.

"Batman has a few ideas on what exactly we could do, but we wanted to warn you first of what exactly we're up against," the Reploid stated. "Brainiac is a mind-controlling virus who can possess people and computers so that he can do what he wants -- which means collecting data from worlds and completely destroying them in the process. Usually, when he's done with his host, he has them commit suicide so that he can cover his tracks. He's tried it multiple times here, but he's failed miserably thanks to the Justice League. And now he has control over both Megatron _and_ Lex Luthor."

"How am I to believe that?" Fowler demanded, frowning at Maria.

Maria glanced over at Batman for a moment, then looked back up at Fowler. "Have you ever known Megatron's optics to be a sickly _green_ rather than blood-red or Dark Energon-purple? And then he had _this_ symbol stuck to his chest in the same color." The Reploid motioned with one hand, causing her fire to come and form a familiar shape: three circles connected together in a triangular shape.

"Imagine this as a bright, sickly green, and you've got Brainiac's symbol," Maria stated, motioning to the fire. It dissipated a moment later. "If you ever see it in the middle of a fight...there's a good chance that you may end up getting under his control, unless you're Static or you get away like I did last night."

Fowler frowned at Maria, then looked over at Optimus. "Brainiac is back." Obviously, the liaison wanted confirmation.

"I saw Megatron's state with my own optics," the Autobot replied grimly.

The government agent scowled at the statement, considering what it was that Optimus and Maria had just revealed to him. "Do you realize how this is going to be looked at? If I tell the Pentagon that we've got that rogue computer virus running around again, they're going to think I'm nuts or something. Everybody knows he disappeared in Dakota and when Darkseid flew in and got your friend from Krypton mad." Fowler glared pointedly at Batman as he said this, as though the Dark Knight was the source of the problem.

Batman looked back at the agent with his usual dark expression. "We all thought the virus was gone, Agent Fowler. Don't think that we were expecting this."

Fowler muttered something under his breath, but said nothing at a louder volume.

"Luthor has made his move," Barman continued. "It's time we made ours."

"What's the plan?" Maria asked, giving the vigilante a curious expression.

Batman glanced over at the Reploid for a moment before giving a slight smile.

"We play a move that no one will expect."

Maria blinked a couple times before looking at her brother, who shrugged in response.

"What's our first move, then?" Maria asked, looking back at the vigilante.

Batman looked directly at Fowler, who started to look somewhat uneasy.

"What are you planning on doing?" Fowler demanded, frowning.

**Time Break**

Batman's plan wasn't one that Fowler was too happy about, but the fact that Batman managed to push through and do exactly what he thought needed to be done was one of the reasons why Maria admired him as a vigilante.

However, working out _when_ the plan was going to go into action was something else entirely.

"It might be possible that I could equip us with something similar to Static's energy signature in order to keep this 'Brainiac from infecting us," Ratchet stated in a grumpy tone. "If we are going to be forced to do this thing that you are suggesting, I would like to have a little...extra insurance."

"That might be a good idea," Gear commented in agreement. "It'll take some time, though."

"How long?" Batman asked, eyes narrow as he looked at the two.

The Dakota teen caught sight of Batman's glare and held up his hands in a somewhat defensive gesture. I, uh...maybe a week? I don't really know --"

"I'll give you a week." Batman started heading towards the Ground Bridge, which opened in a flash of yellow and black. "Make sure that you're ready by then."

With that, the Gotham vigilante was gone.

Miko made an excited squeal. "This is going to be so cool!"

"No, it is not!" Ratchet retorted. "Optimus, I do not see why we have to listen to that...that lunatic!"

"Hey!" Static frowned at the medic. "Batman isn't a lunatic."

"And he does have a point," Gear added. "There's a chance that Luthor and Brainiac won't be expecting something like this. If he does, then we have to make sure that we're ready for him."

"I trust Batman's judgement," Optimus intoned in agreement.

"So do I," Maria added, nodding. "At least we have some time now before we get the plan going. I could use some time to work on my abilities."

_*Remember your plans for an upgrade?*_

Maria blinked for a moment, but then gave a slight nod. "Yeah...nearly forgot about that...." She looked over at Gear. "Hey, Gear, I could use your help with something."

The teen hero looked at the Reploid with a curious look. "Yeah? What is it?"

"I want to add something to my systems, and I've got some ideas. But I'm going to need some help when it comes to actually adding them to my systems."

Gear gained a look of surprise. "Are you asking me to give you an upgrade?"

"And a replacement hoverboard." Maria rubbed the back of her head somewhat nervously. "Will you help me out?"

An eager looked crossed Gear's face. "Will I ever!"


	34. Chapter 34

"All right. Try it out now."

Maria looked down at her arms as Gear backed away from the Reploid, taking some of his tools with him. She lifted up her left arm and shifted it about for a moment, testing the natural movement.

"It's not scraping against my armor, now," Mara commented, nodding slightly in approval. "Let's see if it'll come out without scraping anything off. Or flying out."

"H-hey, don't blame me for that." Gear held his hands up in defense.

"I'm not." Maria looked at her left arm for a moment, then clenched her fist tightly. Moments later, she left something shift in her left arm, and a bright, silver blade suddenly popped out of the Reploid's arm with a loud _shing!,_ extending in a curve from Maria's forearm and out in front of her now-clenched left fist.

Maria's eyebrows shot up a little bit when the blade came out, then she twisted her arm this way and that in order to get a better look at it. "Doesn't feel or look like it tore anything." She glanced over at Gear and nodded him over; the teenage genius came in close and inspected Maria's arm himself.

"It's probably going to be a while before it feels comfortable," Gear commented, nodding to himself. "But at least it works, right?"

"Yeah. And I know who to go to in case anything out of the ordinary happens." Maria clenched her left fist even more tightly for a moment, then watched as the blade disappeared back inside with the same swiftness it had shown in coming out. "You ready to start on my right arm?"

Gear gave Maria a stare. "You're not serious. I have to work around that...that cannon in your arm in order to get _another_ one in?"

"Well, I said I wanted close combat weapons, so...." Maria shrugged at the teenage superhero. "You want to give it a shot?"

"Er, well...I can _try,_ I guess. There were some signs of maybe another Buster in your left arm, so maybe it won't be too bad--"

 _"Another_ one? You can't be serious!" Maria looked at her left arm with an expression of surprise.

Nearby, Ratchet snorted and looked up from the monitor that he had been looking over. "Considering your systems, Maria, I doubt that the so-called 'Buster' in your left arm is of any use. If you were to attempt to use it, I would predict an incomplete connection, considering how fewer parts there are in your left arm than your right."

"I'll keep that in mind," Maria promised, nodding.

Ratchet eyed the two humans sitting on the metal berth in his personal lab for a moment, then snorted and turned away and back to his work. The medic had been eyeing them for the last few hours, making sure that Gear didn't blow something up by accident.

Maria wondered if he was just curious about what exactly was going on within her own systems.

"Okay...." Gear clapped his hands together and rubbed them together as he walked around Maria, who was sitting calmly in a chair while Gear was adding the upgrades to her arms

As a precaution, Maria had let the teen strap her arms down while he was opening the compartments on her arms. The Reploid didn't want her systems acting up by surprise and accidentally damage Gear in the process.

"This shouldn't be too hard to do again," the Dakota teen commented hopefully.

He started pulling out tools again and began tracking for the invisible seam that was supposed to run along the armor. In seconds, there was a low hissing noise, and the top half of the red armor casing popped open, revealing a grand number of wires and metal pieces that were clearly meant to fit together.

Gear gulped. "Oh, boy."

"You got this," Maria responded in confidence. "I know you do."

Gear swallowed. "All right; let's do this."

The teenager started to shift through Maria's inner workings as carefully as he could; Maria may have dimmed down the power that went to her pain receptors, but that didn't mean that what Gear was doing wasn't felt.

"Okay...it looks like I might be able to stick this in here...." Gear grabbed the curved metal blade that looked identical to the other one that was in Maria's left arm and started to slip it into the wires that were in the Reploid's system.

Before Gear could so much as grab one of his other tools, Maria's entire right arm stiffened as the blade suddenly disappeared under the wires.

"What the--" Gear let out a yelp of surprise at the sight of it. "What's going on?"

Maria blinked a couple times out of bewilderment for a moment before green text started to move across her vision. "Uh...I think that my systems are adapting to it. I don't know how, or why, but...there you are."

Gear blinked a couple times, looking back and forth between Maria's arm and Maria. "Whoa...that's pretty cool."

"Yeah...I guess so." Maria smirked. She gave a slight twitch of her fingers, and her armor closed up with a hiss before the blade came sliding out; Gear jumped back with a yelp, getting a laugh from the Reploid before she retracted the blade.

Ratchet sighed and shook his helm while Gear went about and unstrapped Maria's limbs from the chair so that she could move about freely. "I do not see why you find the need to have such weapons on your person, Maria. Considering that you already have considerable firepower--"

"I don't have anything like you guys do for close combat," Maria pointed out in response, getting up from the chair and looking up at the medic. "If I want to be able to disable people without melting them, then this would be a good way to do it." She held up her left arm and caused the blade to come out in a flash of metal, then retracted it a moment later.

Ratchet rolled his optics and let out a sigh. "Perhaps, but that does not mean installing weapons into yourself."

"I think I kinda needed it," Maria responded matter-of-factly. She looked over at Gear and grinned. "And now that I've got a replacement board, I can do a lot more out there now."

"Not that there is much _to_ do," Ratchet grumbled in response.

As though Ratchet had said something, there came a voice over a loudspeaker system Gear had installed on a whim with Static's and Maria's a good six days ago -- a day after Maria had woken up full of Energon.

 _::Ratch', Gear, Maria::_ Jazz stated over the loudspeaker. _::Dat Kryptonian is here, an' he's ready fer us to get goin'. Are you guys ready ta go?"_

Maria and Gear looked at each other when they heard that, considering what Jazz had just reported. The Reploid glanced over at Ratchet.

"That project...have you guys managed to do anything with it?" Maria asked.

"Somewhat," Gear responded. "It's not good enough yet for a full test run, though, so we'll have to keep Static nearby."

Ratchet sighed irritably. "Yes, it seems so. We're coming, Jazz."

_::All righ'::_

The medic started to move towards the door that led out of the medbay; Maria jumped onto her hoverboard and Gear activated his jet skates before the duo followed after the mech.

When they arrived in the main area of the base, the Ground Bridge was already on and the Autobots had gathered. Fowler and Superman were standing near each other -- well, relatively speaking. Maria could tell that the African American was uncomfortable with being near the vigilante, and made it a point to stand on the driver's side of Optimus Prime's alt mode rather than next to Superman in front of the Ground Bridge.

Maria and Gear landed on the ground as Ratchet and Jazz shifted down into their alt modes.

"So, where are we going?" Maria asked, cocking her head out of curiosity at the Kryptonian.

"Gotham," Superman responded. He glanced over in Fowler's direction, but the man was reluctant to look back at him. "Bruce and Static waiting for us on the other side."

"I still can't believe that he's actually working with you," Fowler commented from nearby.

Maria shrugged; she knew, but that didn't warrant her saying anything about the matter.

"Bruce has been an ally of ours for years," Superman responded. "He knows how to pull strings for us sometimes." He looked over at the Autobots. "You're all ready?"

"We are, Kal-El," Optimus responded. Maria noticed with some surprise that his voice sounded more like an engine rumble when he was in this form.

Superman gave a nod. "All right. Let's go." He turned and walked into the Ground Bridge, disappearing from sight. Maria and Gear followed after him, and then the Autobots rolled through...and out into an empty street in the middle of the city.

Well, nearly empty.

**Maria's POV**

I knew what Bats' plan was, but that didn't necessarily mean that I was fully on-board with it. We were putting ourselves out in the open, where Lex and Megatron and _Brainiac_ could clearly see us.

But the rest of the world could, too.

We met Bruce out in the street, standing in front of a limo that was purring quietly. Static was perched on top of it with his disk underneath him. I figured that Bruce's famous butler Alfred was sitting in the driver's seat.

Bruce nodded to Superman, then walked over to Optimus as Fowler climbed out of the driver's seat.

"I take it you're the Agent Fowler that Batman mentioned?" Bruce asked, walking over to the African American.

Fowler nodded, accepting the handshake that Bruce offered him. "Where are we going to be having this thing?"

"It's a few streets away from here. Just enough time to get us set up in a procession, if you feel like it." Bruce turned and looked over the Autobots for a moment, and his gaze lingered on Optimus' alt mode. "Something tells me that one's going to go first."

" 'That one' is a he," I corrected automatically.

Bruce turned and looked at me, and his eyebrows arched. "You're one of the new recruits in the Justice League, right? Flare-Up?" He came over, one hand held out.

"Yeah, that's right." I gave a nod as I accepted the handshake. "But recently, I've been working with..." I motioned to the Autobots, as though that was proof enough.

Bruce gained an interested expression, and he gave a slight nod before moving toward the limo. "Like I said, where we're going isn't far from here. Don't be too surprised if we run into a large crowd. I tend to attract a lot of...attention."

Static smirked at the statement, then jumped off the limo with his metal disk as the limo started moving. Fowler scrambled back into the cabin of Optimus' alt mode seconds before the Autobots started moving.

I jumped onto my hoverboard as Gear activated his skates, and we joined Static and Superman in the air above the group of cars.

"You gotta wonder how big the crowd is," I commented, looking over at the two other teens. "Considering how famous the head of Wayne Enterprises is."

"I gotta wonder how he's able to handle crowds like this," Static commented with a snicker.

"What?" Gear frowned. "Bruce Wayne has to handle crowds like this all the time."

I gave a slight smirk when I heard that. From what I remembered of the TV show that had Static as its main character, _he_ knew who Batman was under the hood, but _Gear_ didn't. That made for some pretty fun banter between the two.

I snickered. "That may be, but that doesn't mean he has to _like_ them."

Superman shook his head at our statements, but he didn't decide to throw his own two cents in.

"Well, yeah, I guess so." Gear sounded a little uncertain, but I didn't really have much time to try and guess at what was going through his head.

Because the next thing that happened...was that we were out on the main street where the event was going to take place.

And it was _packed_ with _people_. Literally. I couldn't really tell where the road or sidewalk was except for where the crowd parted for Bruce Wayne's limo and the Autobots. I could hear the people cheering loudly and calling the rich man's name, but it was so much noise that it really made me want to cover my ears or do something to stop the noise.

 _*Reminds me too much of the gladiator pits in Kaon*_ Inferno muttered at the back of my mind. She sounded unhappy. But...Kaon?

_Is that supposed to be a city on Cybertron?_

_*Yeah...I never told you about where I lived, did I?*_ Inferno chuckled lightly, but then her tone became serious. _*Kaon's Megatron's home base. I used to live there, before the war started. A few friends of mine managed to get me in the right state of mind to get me to the right side of the war before it was too late*_

_You...you lived in the same city as Megatron?_

_*Yeah, I worked with the mech, so what?*_

I was thrown out of the conversation when I caught sight of the stage that the Autobots were driving onto. I steered over and landed next to Ratchet with Superman. The medic shifted on his axles a little but didn't do anything else.

Static and Gear were a little bit more daring, instead landing on the roofs of two red and yellow Lamborghinis -- the Terror Twins. I wonder what's gonna happen during what's going to happen next....

Bruce stepped out of the limo, and, of course, the entire crowd went wild as he walked over onto the ramped stage that had been set up for the Autobots. Fowler stepped out of Optimus' alt mode and walked over to stand a short distance away from the leader of Wayne Industries.

"I know this is rather sudden," Bruce began as the crowd finally started to settle down. "But I've been asked to help introduce you to a few people who have been kept hidden because they asked to be. Now, their leader has decided that it might be time for them to show themselves. These are those people."

He motioned to the Autobots, and I could see that Ratchet was stiffening up a little bit, as though he was anticipating something.

"I know these cars don't look like much," Bruce continued, "but there's more to them than meets the eye."

That statement seemed to act like a signal, because a certain red and blue semi truck instantly started shifting and rising to his feet. The others started to follow seconds later, forcing Static and Gear to get off the hoods of two certain cars with yelps of surprise.

I chuckled at the two of them and shook my head as the entire group of Autobots stopped shifting and stood tall on the platform. I'm surprised to say that it didn't break underneath our feet -- Bruce Wayne must be experimenting with a new metal alloy of some kind.

Static and Gear landed on Sideswipe's shoulders, and the trio exchanged a grin as the audience let out a unified gasp at the sight of all the Autobots.

"Meet the Autobots," Bruce stated in a bold and dramatic way, holding both his arms out as he motioned to the large group behind him.

Despite Ratchet's convictions, Bruce had insisted that everyone come out for this, and everyone had: Bumblebee, Ratchet, Bulkhead, Arcee, Smokescreen, Jazz, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Optimus Prime himself, standing in the center of the group and clearly a head taller than the rest of the Autobots. I think just seeing Optimus standing there with his stern, kind optics looking over the crowd would have been more than enough for the humans who were there.

I couldn't help but grin at all the shocked faces. This was going to be really interesting and fun, despite whatever doubts I had felt earlier.

"I understand that you have much to ask us," Optimus stated. "I cannot guarantee that we will answer all of them, but perhaps what we do answer will be enough for you to understand us."

"Maybe you should start with the introductions!" Static called out. "You know, give these guys names to call you by."

Yeah, that's a good start.

Sideswipe smirked as he looked at the Dakota teen on his left shoulder. "Not a bad idea, kid. All right, I'll go first." He turned his attention to the large crowd that had gathered. "The name's Sideswipe, and this is my brother, Sunstreaker." He motioned to his yellow twin. "You can call him Sunny though, if you want."

Sunstreaker let out a low growl. "I thought I said _don't call me that,_ Sides."

"Yeah, I know, but it's so fun calling you that!" Sideswipe gave his brother a large, playful grin. "And I'm not about to stop, either."

Sunstreaker scowled and muttered something under his breath that I couldn't quite understand.

 _*Be glad that you can't*_ Inferno commented. _*That was a string of curses in Cybertronian*_

Ah. Well then.

"Don' min' dose two," Jazz spoke up from Optimus' right. "Dey're always bickerin'. Name's Jazz, by de way. An' I gotta say, you humans got a _great_ taste in music! Who o' ya'll likes dat rock 'n roll stuff?"

There came a few loud cheers from the crowd, and Jazz gave a laugh in response, grinning hugely.

"I like dat stuff, too! An' de music I share my name wit'!"

"You'd better not take all of the spotlight," Arcee commented from Jazz's right. The femme gave Jazz a dry look, which caused the mech to shrug. Arcee looked out at the crowd and added, "I'm Arcee. And this is Bumblebee." She motioned to the yellow and black mech next to her, who waved a servo and beeped a hello. "He can't speak because he lost his voicebox a few centuries of your years ago and can't speak other languages as a result, so one of us can act as a translator for him if you want to ask him any questions."

"I'm Bulkhead," Bulkhead stated next, waving a servo cheerily.

"And I'm Smokescreen," Smokescreen added, giving a half smile to the crowd of humans in front of us.

I nudged Ratchet's left foot. "You're going to have to say something too, you know."

Ratchet grunted as he scowled down at me, then glanced up at Optimus, who was eyeing him with what I think was meant to be a look of encouragement.

"I am Ratchet, Autobot medic," Ratchet stated in a stiff manner. "I believe that would equate me to being a doctor among your kind."

"And I am Optimus Prime," Optimus rumbled. "Leader of the Autobots."

I couldn't help but chuckle at the expressions that I could see. It was almost like everyone was blown back in shock and awe at who was standing directly in front of them.

"What are you doing here on Earth?" called out a man's voice from somewhere in the crowd.

Straight to the point. Considering what last happened with the Reach, well...I wouldn't want to leave anything for granted, either.

"Our home planet, Cybertron, has died due to many centuries of war," Optimus responded in a grim tone. "Those who survived were scattered across the universe. We landed here a few of your years ago, and chose to remain hidden until recent events suggested that we decide otherwise."

"How can we know you're telling the truth?" someone else called out. "You could be just some project by Wayne Enterprises for all we know!"

I flinched, and Ratchet and a number of the other Autobots bristled at the statement. Optimus held up a servo to keep them back.

"I can understand why you would consider us as such," Optimus stated. I could barely see his head over Ratchet's, but I didn't really need to in order to feel the anger that was coming off of the Autobot. "However, we were not created by another's hands. That mistake was made once before in our past, and it resulted in a war between our kind...and our enslavers. This is not a similar situation."

Wait...what? What did Optimus mean by _that_? I hadn't heard them mentioning anything like that before.

Inferno made a weird humming noise at the back of my mind, but I ignored it in favor of watching what was going on around me.

"The Cybertronian's telling the truth about his planet."

My head shot up when I heard the familiar voice, and my eyes widened when I caught sight of two green streaks of light flying down from the sky and stop in a hovering position in front of Optimus.

"I was just checking in with the Guardians on Oa about their home planet," one of the figures in green and black continued. "The planet was split into two a few centuries ago because of issues with their way of life. The Green Lantern Corps wasn't allowed to interfere because of the strength of will and the sheer numbers of death on both sides. As a result, the planet was forced into a state of deep hibernation that won't sustain the life of anything until a point of time in the future."

I gave an expression of surprise when I heard that, looking up at Hal Jordan and John Stewart, who were both hovering mid-air and looking like they had just flown from the next block over rather than across space. Did Batman ask them to see about getting some actual proof?

"Because Optimus is technically the leader of all of Cybertron and is presently a fugitive, hiding from those who would want him dead and attempting to find a way to restore his home planet," Hal continued, "the Guardians decided they'd be a little bit nicer this time around and see if there was anything that they might be able to do to help."

The responding rumble that came from something -- or, rather, _someone_ \-- on stage nearly caused me to lose my footing.

"I appreciate their concern for my well-being, but the ones they should be concerned about are those who are presently not with me," Optimus stated. "There are other Autobots out in the universe who may be facing conflicts that could leave them in dangerous situations."

"I think they're looking out for them too, sir," John Stewart responded. The African American Marine turned and looked back at Optimus with that usual serious expression of his that I'd always seen in the cartoons. "They'll make sure they're safe -- don't worry."

Jazz let out a whistle of amazement. "Man, I knew Green Lanterns existed, but I didn' think dat dere were two of 'em from Earth."

"Technically, there's four," I murmured under my breath, smirking at Jazz's amazement. I doubted that they were going to be meeting Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner anytime soon, though, so I didn't try to say anything else that might end up getting me any attention.

"If you aliens are going to be living on our planet, then, are you planning on drinking us out of our oil supply?" demanded a cold, woman's voice. I flinched a little when I heard that.

"We do not need to use your 'oil'," Ratchet responded this time in an irritated manner. "Our systems would not be able to comprehend such a substance, and I doubt that it would leave us feeling all that well, considering the residue that your gasoline leaves behind in your cars." The medic sounded really disgusted about that. "Our fuel comes from another source, and it is much more clean for us once it is processed, believe me."

"What is it, then?"

Ratchet glanced over at Optimus; I could tell that the medic was little bit reluctant to say anything on the matter. When the leader of the Autobots gave what I think was an encouraging nod, however, the medic let out an irritated sigh.

"The substance is called Energon," Ratchet stated. "It is a fuel that was once manufactured in an abundance on Cybertron, and now we have to mine it from deposits that are scattered all over the planet. Do _not_ ask me why they happen to be there; I myself am not an expert in that field. What I do know, however, is that Energon is both our fuel and our lifeblood, and can be extremely harmful to humans when in its processed form. The Justice League, as they call themselves, had already attempted to use some Energon as a potential alternative fuel source, but it proved to be much to powerful for their systems to handle -- even as a sliver of its crystallized form. I would highly discourage any further experimentation with it, as you may bring upon yourselves more dangers than necessary for a race with little in the way of technology compared to us."

"Then why don't you share that technology?" someone else countered.

"I will not have a war here with many deaths caused by our attempts to assist you," Optimus responded. "We have had confrontations with a group of humans who discovered our existence here and have since attempted to discover as much as they can about us."

"And that includes figuring out how we work," Arcee added grimly. "MECH nearly tore me apart some time ago."

Okay...I did not hear about _that_ one. Sounded like it happened before I got here, but...I think I'll have to ask my brother later to fill me in on what exactly has been happening on the planet since the 'Bots got here.

"How come we haven't heard anything about this?" someone else asked.

"I'll answer that one." I turned my head to look over at Fowler. "The Autobots under the protection of the US Government, and we've been trying to keep their actions a secret as much as possible."

"What about Luthor?" someone else asked. "He has allies with robots like you."

"I would prefer it if you did not refer to us as mere drones," Ratchet growled, scowling.

"Knock Out and Megatron are members of our race, that is correct," Optimus responded, ignoring Rachet's comment. "However, I have reason to believe that their intentions here are not as peaceful as they seem."

That got a few uneasy murmurs in the crowd. Didn't sound like people were liking where this was headed. Did they even have suspicions about what exactly Megatron and Knock Out were?

If they did...I'm sure that I could give them a few answers.

I glanced up at Optimus, wondering if he'd look over at me and let me provide some answers on my own. The Autobot didn't so much as glance in my direction.

"When our race descended into war, we were separated into the Autobots and the Decepticons," Optimus stated in his usual grim, serious tone. "The planet fell into chaos as its people were divided. Both sides wanted an end to the system which had been in place for many centuries, but they argued as to what to replace the system with. The lower classes wanted their leader to rule Cybertron, replacing Sentinel Prime, who was the leader before me. However, his more violent tendencies would have left us no better off than before. The Autobots wished to replace the system with something far more equal, but not with a single ruler over the planet, and as a result of these differences...the arguments escalated into war."

He didn't mention Megatron's name once in that statement. I wonder why.

 _*He could be avoiding getting them involved in the war*_ Inferno pointed out. _*Or he wants them to figure it out on their own. I wouldn't be surprised either way*_

"Knock Out mentioned that he was part of the Decepticons at one point," someone called out in the crowd. Looks like Inferno was right about someone figuring it out on their own. "Does that mean Luthor's made an alliance with the wrong aliens _again?_ "

"Sounds like it," Arcee commented. Course, we all already knew that, but not everyone else did.

"You said you were at war...does that mean Bumblebee lost his voice in battle?" a younger voice asked -- probably a teenage boy hiding out in the crowd somewhere.

 **"Megatron tore my voicebox out in Tyger Pax,"** Bee stated, making a somewhat strangled noise as he responded.

" _Megatron_ tore it out?" I yelped, surprised enough to repeat the question aloud. At that point, I felt a million eyes turn in my direction, and I felt like a bug would under a microscope. I shifted my stance somewhat nervously when I got all that attention.

"You understood him?" someone asked.

That's when the whispers started.

"She looks like that one character in that video game that came out recently..."

"The comic books...."

"I think I have a plushie of her wearing other clothes and with this cool-looking staff..."

Oh, boy. Looks like I have a few questions of my own to answer.

"Before any of you ask, I've been working with both the Justice League and the Autobots," I called out. "And, considering the statements that I'm hearing up here, you guys already have a good guess at who exactly I am."

"You're the World Jumper!" somebody shouted in a gasp of surprise.

"Yeah; that's me." I gave a nod of confirmation while loud cheers started rising up from the crowd. "I've been going by Flare-Up, though, so if you'd call me that rather than my job's name, that'd be great."

A number of voices and questions started clamoring up from the crowd -- all about me and my interactions with both of the groups I was working with. I was barely able to catch some of them, and I would have answered them were it not for the fact that we ended up being rudely interrupted.

A large, green portal suddenly opened up at the back of the crowd, and multiple figures suddenly dashed out, blasters pointed down at the humans below them.


	35. Chapter 35

**Maria's POV**

"Vehicons!" I exclaimed when I caught sight of the seven green-and-purple Cybertronians coming through the green portal -- which I could only guess was a Ground Bridge.

Although...there was something wrong this time. The Vehicons that I was familiar with were supposed to be purple and black. These guys were purple and _green_.

That second color was a bad sign. A very bad one.

"Static, Gear!" Superman suddenly called out. Man, I'd forgotten that he was even here. "Get everyone out of here safely! We'll take care of the Vehicons!"

"You got it, Supes!" Static called back. He and Gear flew off Sideswipe while the Vehicons' blasters started to charge up.

"I'm going to go give them a hand," I stated, activating my hoverboard and getting on. Before anyone could try to say anything else to me, I blasted out over the crowd and started helping get people out of the area as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, as soon as I got out above the crowd, the Vehicons started firing their Blasters at every organic thing in sight. The resulting screams of terror and panic had everyone running in all directions while energy bullets started to rain down.

The first few shots landed in clear areas, causing the ground to be blasted up and turned into rubble. I don't think anybody got hit by that, but I wasn't about to sit around and see what happened when humans were hit with Energon energy blasts.

I started to gather my fiery energy together, and I sent it out in a wide burst above my head. "Fire Shield!" It was wide enough to cover a good deal of the area that was being blasted, but it was enough to protect those who still needed to get out of there.

"Maria!" somebody shouted below me.

"Get going!" I called back, not bothering to look back at the people that I was hovering above. "This probably won't be able to hold those blasts back for very long!"

I realized that it was my actual name that had been called, not anything else that I had been called out in public. Obviously, somebody was keeping up with what I was doing on other worlds -- I mean, there are video games for me on my own world, so why not in other places?

"Thanks, Maria!" the voice called out again, getting fainter. It was at this point that I glanced down and saw that the crowd was now moving at a fast pace through the area that I had the shield up.

At the same time, I could feel that my energy reserves were slowly falling as energy blast after energy blast were sent flying into my attempt at defense. It wasn't going to be too long before I would be forced to go on the offense.

Unfortunately, that time ended up hitting me sooner than I had expected. I wasn't watching when a blast suddenly managed to get through my Fire Shield and blasted me. The energy ended up hitting me so fast that I wasn't able to tell where it had originally hit me, because it messed up my systems so badly.

Truly -- my vision got to be so messed up it almost looked like the colors of everything around me had been inverted. And my audios were just confusing everything to weird noises that I couldn't make sense of.

I lost control of my hoverboard and fell back, but I ended up colliding with something far sooner than I had expected.

"She's taken a direct hit, and it seems her systems aren't taking it too well," commented a garbled voice above me. Because my vision was going all wonky, I couldn't quite tell who it was, but I _think_ that the voice was Ratchet's.

"Can you reverse the damage?"

That voice made me feel like my entire frame was vibrating; as far as I knew, only Optimus' voice could manage to do that.

"I can try, but I cannot guarantee that my repairs will be sufficient."

"Aw, Ratchet, stop being a worrywart and just try already," I growled, gritting my teeth a little as I tried to get the words out. My throat felt like it was on _fire_ \-- and not in a good way, either.

There was a pause for a moment, and then suddenly I felt something move underneath me -- probably some 'bot moving his servo as he moved out of the line of fire.

I really wanted to get back into the line of fire as soon as possible so that I could give the Autobots some help, but...well, I don't think that my vision and audio systems were going to repair themselves.

**Change in POV -- 3rd person perspective**

Those who remained behind to fight the Vehicons that had suddenly appeared quickly realized that they were not like the Vehicons that they had faced in the past.

For one thing, these green models had armor that was a little tougher than average Vehicon armor -- normal ones simply collapsed after getting hit by one blow, but these were able to stay up even after the beatings they were receiving from the Autobots, Kryptonian, and two Green Lanterns.

"Why won't these things just die already?!" Sideswipe demanded, sending his own blasterfire rocketing towards the green-and-purple Cons that were firing at them. After the humans had been successfully evacuated -- with Bruce Wayne leaving with Gear as a rear guard -- neither side had really moved all that far, save for Optimus, Ratchet, and Jazz, the first and last mentioned of the trio instantly trying to take out the Vehicons in servo-to-servo combat rather than stay back and let the shoot-off continue.

There may have been only seven Vehicons, but...no one was really too keen on letting them stick around for long.

"What are these things made of?" Jazz demanded, scowling from under his visor. A pair of swords quickly replaced his servos, and he started slashing at the areas that usually had weaker armor -- mainly, the joints. Much to his surprise, the blades just bounced off.

"Ratchet, what do you make of these Vehicons?" Optimus asked, glaring into the visor of the Vehicon in front of him. It almost seemed as though there were green flecks on the visor, but Optimus wasn't necessarily sure.

Ratchet let out an annoyed noise as he looked up from where he was kneeling, looking over Maria, who was lying in on servo, unmoving. "Why do you ask me that now, Optimus?"

"There is something different about these Vehicons from the others which we have faced."

The medic let out an irritated sigh and activated his scanner, getting a scan of the Vehicon Optimus was fighting. He checked his scanner a moment later to see what exactly it was that he had picked up, and his optics widened a moment later.

"Impossible!" Ratchet exclaimed.

"What is it?" Superman asked, flying over to the medic.

"These Vehicons have no Spark!"

"A what?" Static asked, sounding confused.

"I believe you humans would refer to it as a soul," Ratchet responded. "If these Vehicons don't have them, Optimus --"

"Then it is likely that these were made here on the planet," Optimus responded grimly. "It seems that someone has discovered how to use Cybertronian technology."

"Wanna bet it's that guy who's under the control o' that virus?" Jazz suggested.

"Perhaps." Optimus didn't sound like he was liking that idea all that much.

Hal gained a large grin, and he cracked his knuckles before creating a large green construct of a hammer that promptly was slammed down on the head of one of the Vehicons near Optimus. The Prime looked surprised upon seeing the construct, but he said nothing as it disappeared, and the Vehicon -- now with its head completely flattened -- collapsed, sparks flying from its neck cables.

"I've been waiting to do that to something!" Hal exclaimed, grinning.

John Steward, however, rolled his eyes and looked somewhat annoyed at the statement. "You really shouldn't think that way."

"Aw, come on -- you know that you want to beat the stuffing out of some people," Hal chided in response, grinning.

"You two should settle this later, when we aren't fighting these things," Bulkhead commented from nearby, firing a couple blasts.

Sideswipe snorted, a smirk appearing on his face before he he brought out his swords and slashed out at the Vehicon that was in front of him, taking out its neck cables. Seconds later, the green and purple head went flying.

"Well, would you look at that," Sides commented, grinning. "Off with their heads!"

Before anyone moved any further to take out the remaining five Vehicons, a silver flash suddenly went flying past Sideswipe's face.

_CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!_

The wrench chopped off the remaining five helms and returned to Ratchet's servo, the medic having an irate expression on his face.

"Whoa," Maria commented, sitting upright on Ratchet's other servo and looking a little better.

"Finally! The wrench is used for something else for once!" Sideswipe exclaimed, raising his arms in the air as a gesture of relief.

"Don't think I'll stop using it on you," Ratchet growled in response as he rose fully to his feet. He looked down at the Reploid standing on his servo. "Maria, what's your take on all this?"

"Indestructible Vehicons with weak necks?" Maria blinked a couple times, considering that statement while she rubbed one side of her head. "Um...you mentioned they had no Sparks, right? Maybe they're prototypes or something."

"Prototypes?" Bulkhead repeated. "For what?"

Maria shrugged.

"Maybe Luthor's tryin' to figure out how to upgrade your tech," Static suggested, flying around to one of the sparking Vehicons that lay on the street.

Ratchet snorted. "Impossible. How can a human's technology improve anything of ours?"

"Lex is smart for a human," the Reploid responded. "And, considering what and who else happens to be with him...." Maria shuddered at the idea. "If it was just Luthor, if we left him alone with a Ground Bridge, he'd probably have it figured out in a few hours. With Brainiac's and Megatron's knowledge added into the mix....we're going to have a lot more trouble."

"I'll say," Hal commented. The Green Lantern didn't look too happy. "And it was bad enough when it was _just_ Brainiac and Luthor. Now we have to deal with this Megatron, too?"

"I do not believe that Megatron is as willing to assist them as you seem to think."

Everyone turned to look at Optimus, all of them clearly having confused expressions on their faces.

"What do you mean?" Maria asked, cocking her head to one side in confusion.

"When I confronted Megatron, for a single moment, I sensed my brother still in there."

"Brother?" Static repeated, surprised.

Maria's own eyes widened when she heard this statement. "What? Brother? But...how?"

 _*That's what Optimus and Megatron called each other, back before the war*_ Inferno explained. _*We called Orion Pax the librarian because we didn't like him getting into what Megatron was planning, but it turned out that the librarian had better ideas than ol' Buckethead*_

_Then...does that mean you knew Optimus back when he was Orion Pax?_

_*Seems that way, doesn't it?*_

Maria was about to respond to this, but then she suddenly got a massive headache as her vision shifted back to inverted colors. She covered her eyes to prevent herself from looking at the mess and let out a groan. "Ratchet, my eyes are messed up again."

"And what do you expect me to do about it?" Ratchet retorted, annoyed. "It was a miracle that I managed to reverse the problem that had appeared in your audio systems. Your body is far too small for me to be capable of doing anything."

"Gear would be able to figure it out," Static offered. "We're gonna have to find him, though."

"Aw, come on! You guys finished them off without me?"

Maria laughed when she heard Gear's familiar voice. "Well, what did you expect us to do, Gear?"

"Maria was hit with a blast that scrambled her vision sensors," Ratchet stated in a somewhat grim voice. "Do you think you might be able to reverse the damage?"

"Um...maybe?"

Maria heard Gear's jet-skates as he landed on Ratchet's servo.

"What seems to be the issue?"

"Everything has inverted colors," Maria responded, not taking her hand off her eyes. "It's giving me a bit of a headache."

"Uh-huh....okay, if you'll let me get into your head, I might be able to figure out what went wrong. Is there a zipper or something on the back of your head so that I can get at your sensors?"

Maria couldn't help but chuckle at the suggestion. "Nope, 'fraid not."

Gear let out an annoyed groan. "Great. We should probably be doing this back at the Autobot base, then. There's no way I'm going to expose your inner circuits out here."

"Sounds good. So, what now, Optimus?"

"You guys head back to your base," John Stewart spoke up suddenly; Maria jumped a little when she heard how close the former Marine-turned-Green Lantern was. "We'll handle the clean-up."

There was a pause for a moment, and Maria was almost tempted to pull her hand off her eyes so that she could see what was going on and bare a headache again -- but then Optimus spoke up again.

"Matthew, open the Ground Bridge."

Then there came the sound of the aforementioned portal opened up, and Maria could feel Ratchet move underneath her. Moments later, a tingling sensation went over her, and the Reploid knew they had passed through the Ground Bridge and arrived back in the base again.

**Space Rip**

Knock Out looked up from his buffering when he heard something say in his voice, _"We have a problem."_

"Soundwave, what are you talking about?" the medic asked, frowning at the communications officer standing at the entrance to the med bay.

_"Luthor--Megatron--automatons called "Fake-Cons" by one of the Autobots attacked Gotham City--I have reason to believe that their intentions are not as peaceful as they seem."_

Knock Out's optics widened when he heard who Soundwave was taking audio clips from. "Did you just quote _Optimus?"_

The "SlenderCon" in front of the medic gave a slight nod, his full-face visor reflecting off the lights in the med bay. _"Autobots--revealed themselves."_

If it was possible for Knock Out to get to be even more pale than he already was, he would have. "Slag. Does Lord Megatron know?"

Soundwave paused at this, then glanced over his shoulder at the corridor behind him. Then he stepped into the med bay and closed the door behind him.

 _"Lord Megatron know?"_ the communications officer parroted back at the medic.

Knock Out let out a sigh and was about to say something else, but then Soundwave said something else.

_"Brainiac is a virus -- takes control of -- kills hosts -- possessing Megatron and Lex Luthor."_

"What?" Knock Out asked, confused. "Who said that? Sounds like a femme."

_"You're the World Jumper! -- Yup, that's me. I've been going by Flare-Up."_

Knock Out blinked a couple times when he heard that, then frowned. "Flare-Up...? Isn't that one of the humans who's working with that Justice League group?"

 _"World Jumper!"_ Soundwave repeated.

"There's no way that she could be that."

_"Have you ever seen this kid before?"_

That recorded audio clip stopped Knock Out short for a moment, and when he saw the picture that Soundwave brought up on his visor of a certain figure that had been on the _Nemesis_ some time ago, his optics widened.

"Isn't that the kid you said was with the Big O?" Knock Out asked.

Soundwave gave a nod as the picture of the red and blue-armored Reploid faded. _"Maria."_

"So this kid is...what?"

_"She--knows what's going on with -- Lord Megatron."_

That mix of audio clips left Knock Out a little confused. "Knows what?"

_"Brainiac is a virus -- takes control of -- kills hosts -- possessing Megatron and Lex Luthor."_

"And there you go mentioning that thin--wait." Knock Out raised a hesitant digit at Soundwave. "Did you just say that something has possessed our leader?"

Soundwave gave another nod.

"And...could it possibly possess us?"

Another nod.

Knock Out started to get weak in the knee joints. "Is there anything we can do?"

_"Get out. Now. -- Find -- Maria -- Flare-Up. -- Stop -- Brainiac."_

Soundwave activated a Ground Bridge right there in the middle of the med bay, and Knock Out got the feeling that he really didn't have too much of a choice in the matter. He dashed through the portal, buffer still in servo. He wasn't about to turn and look back with all the audio clips that Soundwave had managed to string together about Megatron and that "Brainiac" thing.

As for how they were going to find that "Maria", though...well, Knock Out was going to leave that up to Soundwave.


	36. Chapter 36

It didn't take Gear too long in order to figure out how to reverse the damage that had been done to Maria's eyes, and it wasn't too long afterward that she had joined with the others in the main area of the base.

"So, what now?" Maria asked as she came in from the med bay, followed closely by Gear and Ratchet -- the medic wasn't about to let the two of them do the repair work without him nearby to observe (he would have said learn, but Maria doubted that the medic wanted to admit that).

"Now we wait," Arcee responded, looking somewhat unhappy at the idea.

"We will wait and see what sort of plan Brainiac may have in store," Optimus rumbled in agreement. "In the meantime, we will keep watch for any movements that the Decepticons may make in light of this event."

"Even if they have Megatron in the state that he is?" Matthew spoke up from the Ground Bridge terminal. Maria's older brother was the only human in the base, as Jack, Raf, and Miko had been called away on class field trips and weren't going to be back until that evening.

"I find it highly likely that he has already infected the Decepticons, and will attempt to continue the Energon and relic raids as normal," Optimus responded grimly.

"But...only three relics have really showed up," Maria pointed out. "And we have two of them, right? The Spark Extractor and the Phase Shifter?"

"Correct," Ratchet confirmed as he walked over to the computer terminals. "Although, considering how much of the database Optimus and Jazz have managed to decode, I would not be surprised if more artifacts start to make an appearance."

"Whoa, whoa, slow down for a minute," Gear suddenly spoke up. "I can't exactly say that I'm following."

"When war broke out on Cybertron, relics from the ancient past were jettisoned from the planet to keep them out of enemy reach," Optimus explained. "Some landed here, on Earth. As a result, Megatron has been attempting to find whatever relics there may be, so that he might be able to use them against us."

"Oh." Gear blinked a couple times before he frowned. "Then we'd better not let Brainiac get his hands on them, because who knows _what_ could happen."

"So, how about we go out and look for them?" Smokescreen spoke up. "If anything, they'll give us an edge against the Decepticons in the long run, right?"

"I should think so," Maria commented from where she stood on the floor next to Gear. "But where would you recommend that we head to first? I mean, the _Nemesis_ does have the Iacon database in it, and I wouldn't be surprised if they'd managed to decode some of that stuff while Megatron and Luthor announced their alliance."

Sideswipe snorted. "Like some stupid 'Cons could crack that code."

Optimus sent the red mech a meaningful look, then returned his attention to the others. "We will look for the remaining relics, but remain on your guard. Brainiac could have sent out more of his Vehicons to stop us."

"Den we jus' send out Ratchet an' have 'im knock deir blocks off wit' his wrench," Jazz commented, grinning.

"Wait -- _what?"_ Matthew looked over at the medic in confusion, but Ratchet simply rolled his optics and waved the stare off.

"I find it highly unlikely that I will be capable of assisting in the field, as it's more than likely that the fight was televised," Ratchet responded dryly. "If anything, Brainiac would have discovered the flaw in his design by now and discovered a way to ensure that my actions would be completely useless."

Matthew still looked confused; Maria snickered at the expression on her brother's face.

"You had to have been there," Maria told Matt.

Matthew frowned at his sister in return, then grumbled something under his breath while the Reploid looked at him in amusement.

"We will have to spread our resources in order to hunt down the remaining relics before Brainiac can proceed to get his hands on them," Optimus rumbled, bringing the conversation back to the task at hand. "Jazz, you will go with Bulkhead to these coordinates." He turned to the computer monitor and brought up a short line of Cybertronian code before Ratchet activated the Ground Bridge.

"Now?" Jazz asked, surprised.

"What better time would you have?" Ratchet snarked. "I certainly wouldn't want to wait until that virus finds something even worse than the Spark Extractor."

"All righ', all righ', I'm goin'." Jazz smirked at the medic before motioning for Bulkhead to follow after him. The two mechs soon disappeared into the green vortex, which closed up behind them.

"Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, you two will accompany Bumblebee to this location," Optimus continued, brining up a different set of coordinates.

The twins looked at each other, Sideswipe giving his brother a large grin. Bumblebee, on the other hand, simply gave Optimus a nod before the trio started for the open Ground Bridge, disappearing in the swirling vortex.

"Arcee, you and Smokescreen will take this location."

For the third time, the Ground Bridge opened up, and the dark blue femme dashed through, Smokescreen on her heels with an eager grin on his face.

With seven Autobots gone in a matter of seconds, it left the base unusually empty...with just Optimus, Ratchet, and Gear, Maria, and Matt.

"And how many more have you managed to decode?" Ratchet asked, breaking the silence with no small amount of surprise in his voice.

"None, as of this moment," Optimus responded.

Maria blinked a couple times as she looked up at the red and blue Autobot. Optimus sounded...amused. She hadn't heard _that_ emotion from him before.

Ratchet let out a sigh and muttered something under his breath that made him sound somewhat annoyed.

"In that case, why did you send Jazz out? You know he would be able to decode even more of the database even more quickly," the medic said in a louder volume.

"Jazz is not capable of remaining in front of a monitor for long, Ratchet," Optimus responded as he turned to face the computer system. "He would have begged me to allow him to leave to hunt for a relic, and I am not about to have him sneak out."

"You mean he'd do that?" Matthew asked. He leaned against the railing of the platform he was standing on.

"Indeed," Optimus responded.

Maria grinned, then activated her jet boosters to get her up from the ground and to the platform her brother was on. Gear followed after her using his own boosters. "Sounds like he's a bit of a handful."

"You have no idea," Ratchet muttered, scowling.

Oddly enough, at that exact same time, Inferno muttered the same thing at the back of Maria's mind. The echoing statements left Maria giggling a little bit.

"So...how well do you guys know Jazz?" Matthew asked, looking up at the two Autobots.

"Well enough," Ratchet huffed.

"We became acquainted with each other long before the war," Optimus explained. "Jazz often came to the Hall of Records for the sake of his investigations, and Ratchet worked in Iacon for a time."

"And my work kept me away from the two of you for good reason," Ratchet stated, wagging a digit in the Prime's direction. "I'm glad I was not pulled into as many of Jazz's little 'adventures' in Iacon as you were."

"Adventures?" Matthew repeated, looking up at the Autobots with interest. He exchanged looks with Maria, who had a surprised expression on her face. "I think that's something I'd like to hear about."

Ratchet snorted. "I highly doubt that--"

"Perhaps when we are not in so much danger," Optimus interrupted the medic calmly. If one looked closely at him, they would have seen a small spark of humor in his optics.

The statement got Ratchet to look at the Autobot leader in shock, while Maria and Matthew exchanged grins.

"O-Optimus, are you sure?" Ratchet asked, aghast. "What will the children--"

"I did not say that I would be informing Jack, Miko, and Raphael," Optimus responded.

The startled expression that came over Ratchet's face when he heard _that_ made Maria snicker while Gear and Matthew looked at Optimus in alarm. It seemed that Optimus really _did_ have a sense of humor under his armor!

Inferno gave a laugh at the back of Maria's mind. _*I was starting to wonder. Since he's been hanging around Jazz for so long, he ought to have picked up_ something _to keep himself sane*_

Ratchet stared for a moment before he shook his helm at the lot of them, muttering something that sounded like he was planning on scanning Optimus later to make sure he didn't have a virus that was making him act like he used to.

Gear opened his mouth as though he was going to say something to add to the conversation, but he was quickly interrupted by a voice from the computer.

 _::Ratchet?::_ Arcee's voice sounded urgent.

Ratchet quickly turned his attention to the computer and activated the comm-link. "What is it?"

_::We've got Knock Out and Soundwave here, and they're asking to see Maria and Optimus::_

Maria stiffened when she heard Arcee's statement, and she spared a glance in Optimus' direction. The Prime now looked extremely serious.

"And it isn't a trap?" Ratchet asked sharply, frowning.

_::Doesn't seem like it. Knock Out doesn't have green optics::_

There was an indignant yell on Arcee's end of the comm-link.

"Gear."

The Dakota teen looked up at Optimus. "Y-yeah?"

"Is it possible that you might be able to sense Brainiac's presence, as you have come into contact with him before?"

Gear looked nervous at the idea; Maria could see the the little robot Gear always had on his back shifting in response to the emotion. "Backpack probably could find his frequency, but there's a chance I could end up getting controlled by him again."

"I would not put you into that state of danger unless you felt that you were prepared to do what I asked of you," Optimus responded.

"And I can help keep him off your back, I think," Maria spoke up quickly as a thought occurred to her. "I can shift my Buster to a stun mode that relies on electricity. Maybe that could do something like what Static does."

"Why didn't you mention that earlier?" Gear demanded, giving Maria a look of annoyance.

"You never asked." Maria shrugged.

"Or you forgot," Matthew intoned, grinning.

Maria shot her brother a glare in response to the statement, and he glanced away, acting like he hadn't said anything.

The Reploid gave a sigh and looked back at Gear. "Do you think it'll work?"

"Er, well...we won't know until we try, now will we?" Gear shrugged, then looked back up at Optimus. "We may as well go now before they do anything."

Optimus gave a nod in agreement. "Arcee, what are your coordinates?"

The femme on the other end gave the Prime their location, and Ratchet powered up the Ground Bridge with a worried glance in Optimus' direction. The medic said nothing, however, as Maria, Optimus, and Gear stepped through...and exited in a forested area near a giant mound of rock.

Standing directly in front of them were Arcee and Smokescreen -- the mech had his blasters out and looked like he was ready to shoot -- and Knock Out and Soundwave, who didn't look like they were planning on attacking. At all.

In fact, the red mech had his servos up and looked a little nervous. That is, until Knock Out caught sight of Maria, Gear, and Optimus walking through the Ground Bridge.

"About time you got here," Knock Out stated in relief. "I was starting to wonder if Soundwave was leading me on a wild goose chase."

"Why did you ask for us, Knock Out?" Optimus asked, optics narrowed slightly at the two of them.

"Better not be a trap," Maria stated, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked up at the two Cons.

 _"Not...a trap."_ Soundwave spat Maria's words back at her, startling the Reploid. _"Something's up with--Lord Megatron."_

"Slendermech here said that there's some kind of virus in our illustrious leader," Knock Out commented snidely, jabbing a digit in Soundwave's direction. "And he said that _you_ knew something about it."

Optimus's optics narrowed further. "Gear?"

"Backpack's not picking up anything," Gear responded. He let out a sigh of relief. "Maybe Brainiac didn't think that these two were of any use to him."

"Well, Soundwave was able to catch on pretty quickly what was up, so it's obvious that he's underestimating them," Maria commented in reply, glancing over at Gear.

Knock Out looked somewhat confused. "I'm sorry, what?"

"If Megatron got possessed, there was a chance that Brainiac could have gotten to you two, too." Maria looked back and forth between Soundwave and Knock Out. "If Backpack isn't getting possessed right now, then that probably means that he hasn't gotten to you two. Yet."

That last word got Knock Out to look somewhat disturbed. "Yet?"

"There's really no telling with that computer virus," Maria continued. "Brainiac has some pretty powerful mind-control technology in his programming, and as of this point in time, the only person who's been immune to his control is the Dakota teen Static, thanks to the electric field he releases. I don't know if the same can be said for the rest of us."

" _Systems adapt,"_ Soundwave said in Maria's voice, sounding serious. It took the Reploid a moment to remember when she said that.

Gear gave Maria a curious look when the Reploid stiffened a little. "What is he talking about?"

"What are you getting at, Soundwave?" Maria asked, ignoring the Dakota teen's question.

_"Armor--changed. Programming--adaption."_

"A what?" Smokescreen asked, sounding somewhat confused.

Arcee, on the other hand, spared a glance back at Maria, who was also frowning in confusion for a moment before understanding and recognition crossed her features.

**Maria's POV**

Wait a sec..."Programming adaption?"

It took me a moment to figure out what exactly Soundwave was pointing out. My eyes widened in recognition when I finally did.

_The Con was talking about my Protocol!_

I looked up at Optimus. "Remember what we talked about in base when you got your memories back? When I uploaded the Iacon database into the computers?"

Optimus looked down at me with a slight frown before his optic ridges rose up a little out of recognition. He returned his gaze to Soundwave, and I found myself wondering what exactly was there behind the Slendermech's mask.

Hey, you know...Knock Out's terminology actually sounded a little familiar....

 _*Your parents called him that*_ Inferno commented at the back of my mind.

Oh. Just one more connection to the past that I didn't remember.

"And you believe that Maria's Protocol will protect her from Brainiac," Optimus stated, bringing me back to the present.

Arcee and Smokescreen exchanged glances. The mech looked confused, but the femme's expression clearly read "We'll tell you later."

Soundwave gave a silent nod.

"While that is an interesting idea, I'm not planning on testing that anytime soon," I stated pointedly, frowning at Soundwave. "Not when there's a chance that Brainiac could force me to kill myself like he's tried with the others he's mind-controlled."

Gear gave a shudder next to me, looking a little unsteady on his legs for a moment.

"Kill yourself?" Knock Out repeated. "Are you saying that this Brainiac is going to do that to Megatron?"

"After he effectively destroys Earth." I paused for a moment, then added, "Maybe Cybertron, too, while he's at it."

" _Cybertron is dead,"_ Soundwave said to me in Optimus' voice. Though this version sounded a little younger...a little less inexperienced...

...ah. He heard _Orion Pax_ say that when we had been caught red-handed downloading the Iacon database. That makes sense.

"That's not going to stop him from blowing it up," I responded. "Or turning it into computer data with no chance of reversing the process."

Knock Out looked _really_ nervous, now. "And what are you planning on doing about it? It's not like we can just waltz up to Megatron and ask Brainiac to leave him nicely, right?"

I nodded in confirmation; Gear's nod at the same time was extremely vigorous. "We have to find a way to not only remove Brainiac, but also destroy him. Otherwise, who knows what kinds of trouble he's going to cause in the future for the Justice League and for you guys."

"Are you worried about us?" Knock Out asked.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," were the first words that popped out of my mouth. "Brainiac's a mutual enemy; I'm not about to let him have his way with your leader only to destroy the entire universe."

Okay...that did _not_ sound right in my mouth. Oh, well. Hopefully it got the point across.

" _Starscream,"_ Soundwave stated in Megatron's growl.

"Who?" Gear asked.

"Con who can transform into a plane," I explained to the Dakota teen. "I've only run into him once, but I think he has a healthy fear of Matthew because of his Aura ability."

Understanding flashed across Gear's face.

 _"Starscream--rogue,"_ Soundwave continued. _"Could become--captured--by--the wrong people."_

"What are you suggesting, Soundwave?" Optimus asked.

_"Find him."_

Smokescreen let out a short laugh. "Find him? Are you insane? He'd probably sooner try to kill us than work with us."

" _He wants to kill--Lord Megatron. He won't let someone else finish the job. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."_

Oh, spit my words right back at us. But Soundwave did kind of have a point.

"Where do you expect us to find him?" I asked.

There was a beep from Soundwave, and a schematic of the Con appeared on his visor, followed by a gridded sphere, on which a dot was blinking resolutely.

"A tracking device," Optimus noted. "Megatron's doing? Or yours?"

_"Megatron's. Before--Brainiac."_

"Why?" Arcee demanded in a low growl.

 _"I do not want that Seeker to ever catch me off guard,"_ Megatron's voice growled at us from Soundwave.

"Paranoid much?" Gear asked.

"Starscream isn't someone who you'd want to trust, fleshy," Knock Out commented, wagging a digit at Gear.

"He killed Cliffjumper," Arcee snarled. "I'm not about to trust him."

_"I'm not asking you to trust him; I'm just asking you to work with him."_

"No thanks."

Now, I was really confused. Cliffjumper? I hadn't heard _that_ name before.

 _*An Autobot who used to work with Jazz, if I remember correctly*_ Inferno commented at the back of my mind. _*The fact that he's offlined...something big must have happened to him*_

"We will decide on what to do with Starscream if and when we find him," Optimus rumbled. "I doubt that Brainiac is going to consider him much of a threat, as I doubt that the two have met face-to-face as of yet."

"Considering that the last time I saw him was right after Unicron was put back under," I muttered, frowning a little at the memory of the Seeker barging into the room where Orion Pax and I had been working. "He probably has his proverbial ear to the ground right now, so we could end up running into him sooner or later."

Arcee didn't necessarily look to happy about that, but I don't think that, at this point, there was too much she could do to protest what was going on around us.

 _"Truce?"_ Soundwave asked. _"For as long--as is--necessary."_

I took that to mean that, as soon as we got Megatron back, the war was going to get started all over again.

"Agreed," Optimus responded, nodding gravely. "Brainiac must be stopped at all costs. Use of the relics might provide us with an edge that he will not expect."

"Speaking of which...." Knock Out walked forward, using a servo to push down Smokescreen's blasters. The Autobot looked reluctant to let the red Con do that, but he didn't protest. "That relic you're looking for around here isn't going to be too easy to get."

"What do you mean?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Knock Out hesitated for a moment. "Ever heard of the fleshy's legend of a sword stuck in a rock?"

Sword stuck in a rock? Why is Knock Out talking about the legend of King Arthur?

"What about it?" Arcee asked shortly.

"See for yourself." Knock Out jabbed a digit in the direction of the giant mound of rock. "It's stuck in there."

The Autobots looked at each other. Smokescreen dismissed his blasters and moved around the two Cons, glaring at them before moving over to the large rock and disappearing around behind it.

"There better not be a trap," Arcee muttered.

 _"Not--a trap,"_ Soundwave spat the statement back at Arcee. _"We--came--alone."_

Smokescreen dashed back around the rock, looking like he had just seen a ghost.

"Optimus!" he yelped. "You'll never believe what is stuck in there! It's the Star Saber!"

The _what?_

At the back of my mind, Inferno sucked in a breath. _*By the AllSpark....*_

Optimus started to move, causing Gear and I to jump when his foot went over our heads as he started for the mound of rock. Arcee and the Cons moved out of his way, not really looking like they were planning on stopping him.

"So, what's the Star Saber?" Gear asked as Optimus moved out of sight.

"It's a relic from Cybertron," Arcee stated, glancing down at him. She quickly returned her gaze to Knock Out and Soundwave, as though daring them to try something.

"It's a weapon that was used by one of the Thirteen," Smokescreen added, awe clearly in his voice. "Prima."

We found a relic that was _that_ old? Whoa.

I was about to ask about what it looked like when I ended up getting my answer in the most epic way to pile out a sword: the pile of rock that the Star Saber as stuck in as very neatly cut in half by a large, blue energy beam of some kind.

_*Alpha Trion's beard, what was that?!*_

"What just happened?" I asked aloud, thrown off a little. A _mountain_ was _just cut in half!_ What kind of weapon _does_ that?!

I ended up getting my answer when a certain Prime walked back around the mountain again...holding a giant sword that looked like it was as tall as he was. The weapon clearly looked like it was Cybertronian.

"That is a big sword," Gear stated, gaping at the Star Saber. My jaw was dropped, too, but when I heard Gear speak, I shut my mouth again.

"It must have been made for a pretty big Cybertronian, then," I commented in reply, watching as Optimus approached us. "And Optimus has it...."

Soundwave and Knock Out watched as Optimus walked back to us. Knock Out looked especially nervous when he saw how big the Star Saber was in Optimus' hands. I was really tempted to snicker and think that the Cons were _so_ dead, but then I remembered that we had just agreed to a truce.

Man...I wonder how the others are going to react to this...and what exactly we're going to do with these two so that we might be able to take down Megatron.

"Ratchet, open the Ground Bridge," Optimus stated in all serious. "We are returning with a relic, as well as two allies in the fight against Brainiac."

Since I was connected to the comm frequency, I could hear Ratchet splutter on the other end.

Yeah, the other Autobots probably weren't going to like this at first....


	37. Chapter 37

When Arcee, Smokescreen, Optimus, Maria, and Gear walked through the Ground Bridge, Matthew's eyes widened when he saw Soundwave and Knock Out following after them...and the gigantic, glowing sword that was in Optimus' servos.

The red mech crossed his arms over his chest and made a huffing noise as he looked around at the base. "This is your base? Looks like a dump."

Ratchet made a spluttering noise and glared at the Con who had spoken. "Let's see you try to work with human technology for a change!"

Knock Out gave a thoughtful hum for a moment, then shook his head. "No thank you." His red optics moved over the monitor Ratchet was standing near...and he caught sight of Matthew standing nearby. "Another one?" He let out a groan. "Do you have an infestation of fleshies, Autobot?"

"I would appreciate it if you would not refer to my _brother_ as an infestation, Narcissus," Maria commented pointedly from where she stood on the ground next to Gear. She had her arms crossed over her chest, and she looked somewhat annoyed.

"Narcissus?" Knock Out repeated, sounding hurt as he turned to look down at the Reploid.

Matthew blinked in confusion. Since when was his sister referring to the Cons by nicknames?

 _"Brother."_ Soundwave suddenly repeated Maria's annoyed word, causing Matthew to jump a little. He looked up and saw Soundwave's blank visor facing in his direction.

"Yes, I'm her brother," Matthew responded, wary.

At the back of his mind, Sparkseer stirred. _*Activate your Aura Sight, son of Morgen. I would like to see how his Spark is reacting*_

Matthew closed one eye. Sparkseer had been murmuring a few things about concentration with his ability -- and it had been helping at least a little -- but this was going to be the first time that he was going to try and use Aura Sight right in front of everyone. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go through with it or not.

 _"Impossible,"_ Soundwave stated. _"You're human.--She--isn't."_

Matthew opened his eye out of surprise. "How'd you figure out that one?"

 _"Lord Megatron--mentioned--her existence on--the_ Nemesis. _'A human-sized creature that calls itself a Reploid seems to have attached itself to Orion. Monitor it.'"_

Matthew blinked a couple times, but then he remembered what had taken place not too long ago. "Oh."

Below, Maria let out an annoyed growl as her face scrunched up into a disgruntled expression. The Reploid muttered something under her breath that Matthew wasn't able to catch.

"So, what now, Optimus?" Arcee asked, eyeing the Prime with a disgruntled expression. It was pretty obvious that she didn't like having two Cons in the base.

The Prime glanced away from the large, Cybertronian blade in his servos. "We wait for Brainiac to notice that he is missing two Cybertronians, and discuss our movements with the Justice League."

Knock Out made a scoffing noise at the statement. "What are you doing working with humans, anyway? It's not like they can do anything to help."

"Hey!" Gear suddenly barked. "We've been fighting Brainiac for longer than you have!" When Knock Out looked at the teenager, he took a slight step back, but stood his ground enough that he wasn't about to have his knees knocking together.

Maria, who was standing near Gear in a strangely relaxed state, nodded in agreement. "The Justice League isn't a group that should be taken lightly. Some of them aren't even human."

 _"Superman--Martian Manhunter,"_ Soundwave stated.

Matthew gave a slight nod. "Yeah." He eyed the faceless Con warily when Soundwave turned to face him.

"So they only have two fleshies that aren't from the planet," Knock Out stated, waving a servo in a careless manner. "What does it matter to us?"

"They know what it's like to be exiled from their home planet and may be willing to assist you in restoring yours."

The statement that came from Maria was so flat and serious that it seemed to make the Decepticons and Smokescreen freeze. Even Ratchet looked somewhat surprised at the statement.

"Seriously?" Knock Out asked, looking at the Reploid down on the ground.

"The Green Lanterns of this world have offered their assistance in this matter," Optimus rumbled in confirmation. He started walking towards an adjoining corridor, the large blade seeming to glow a soft blue light as he went. "I would not be surprised if the Kryptonians and the Martians were willing to offer their assistance, as well."

It was at this point that Matthew finally managed to activate his Aura Sight ability.

Aura Sight was a recent ability that Matthew had discovered -- and only because Sparkseer somehow managed to coax it our of him. How, the teenager wasn't about to ask, what with Brainiac causing havoc.

But what he saw...that raised all kinds of questions.

 _*That's better*_ Sparkseer hummed when Matthew's vision suddenly exploded in a variety of colors.

He caught sight of a deep royal blue disappearing from sight as Optimus disappeared with the large sword. Matthew decided that he'd have to ask his sister about the weapon later.

As for the remaining Autobots and Decepticons in the room, well...Matthew wasn't exactly sure _what_ to make of them.

Soundwave's aura -- or was it Spark signature? -- looked like a dim purple, almost as though it was invisible. Knock Out's, on the other hand was a bright red -- even brighter than his paint job, in fact.

 _*Knock Out is clearly into himself, if his aura is_ that _bright*_ Sparkseer commented. _*Soundwave...he seems subdued, somehow*_

Matthew glanced over at Arcee and Smokescreen, and flinched back when he saw that Arcee's electric blue aura seemed to be spitting off sparks. Smokescreen's silver-gray, on the other hand, seemed to be just hovering around him like he was standing in the middle of a fire. As for Ratchet...well, his his red/white aura tinted with some hints of green was licking up him in a way that made Matthew a little nervous.

 _*Arcee is clearly angry about what has happened*_ Sparkseer commented. _*Smokescreen seems to be a little confused yet. And Ratchet is annoyed, as always*_

Matthew blinked a couple times, letting the colors fade.

Smokescreen glanced around for a moment. "Well, I'm not just going to stand around waiting for the others to get back." With that, he turned and started for the Cybertronian-sized elevator and stepped inside. Whether he was going to the training floor or the roof was anyone's guess.

"I'm going out," Arcee growled. She promptly transformed down to her alt mode and rolled out of the base with a squeal of tires.

Rachet made a huffing noise, then grumbled under his breath. "Great. Leave me with the two Decepticons and the humans, why don't you."

Knock Out huffed as well before crossing his arms across his chest. "Well, isn't this just great. Now we're stuck who-knows-where while a bunch of fleshies try to figure out how to take out that virus that has our illustrious leader under its control."

"First off, Brainiac is technically a _he,"_ Maria spoke up pointedly. "Secondly, they've had more experience with him than you have."

"I'd like to see _you_ try to take him on without knowing about his mind-control abilities," Gear added.

Matthew moved along the platform and closer to the Ground Bridge end so that he could get a better look at Maria and Gear -- neither of whom had moved from their positions on the floor during the Cons' arrival. Maria and Gear looked at least a little bit annoyed -- or maybe their expressions hinted at a more guarded stance?

 _"Brainiac--controlled--Justice League,"_ Soundwave stated, piecing some audio clips together.

"He has," Maria responded in a grim tone.

_"Immunity?"_

"Not that I'm aware of," Gear muttered, shuddering. "And I'm definitely _not_ planning on testing that anytime soon."

"Wait. Are you saying that _you_ were controlled at some point?" Knock Out leaned down and looked at Gear a little more closely. "Why would he want a fleshy like you?"

"I've got enough brain power to pick apart yours and put it back together so that you'd act like a dancing monkey if I wanted," Gear responded.

Knock Out retreated quickly. Matthew snorted in amusement while Maria smirked.

"Well, now that we've found a way to keep you from doing anything stupid," Maria commented.

Knock Out scowled at the Reploid, but when he saw Gear looking back at him, he said nothing that would have remotely resembled a snarky comment. Instead, he looked over at Ratchet.

"So, what now, Autobot?" the Con medic asked, frowning.

"Now?" Ratchet gave Knock Out an irritated glance. "We wait for the Justice League's signal, and _you_ stay inside the base."

Knock Out snorted. "Like I'm going to sit around and wait! That... _thing_ has our leader!"

"If you wish to be of assistance, Knock Out, you will have to be patient."

Optimus' statement caused Matthew to jump; he hadn't expected for the Prime to be re-entering the room right at that point.

"Have the others reported in yet?" Optimus inquired, glancing over at Ratchet.

The medic sent a scowling look in Knock Out's direction, then looked over at Optimus and shook his helm. "Not yet. And this one's starting to get to be a bit impatient." He jabbed a thumb in the Con medic's direction -- a very human gesture that caused Matthew to smirk.

"Perhaps it might be more productive if you showed them where they might stay for the duration of our alliance," Optimus responded. "I will keep watch for the others."

Ratchet gained an expression that clearly said that he didn't necessarily like the idea, but he stepped away from the console anyway, muttering something under his breath that Matthew was sure wasn't nice. The medic glared at Knock Out and Soundwave before starting deeper into the base. The two Cons exchanged glances before following after him.

"I should probably be heading back," Gear commented. "Static's gonna be looking for me. Batman too, probably."

Matthew caught sight of a flash of humor that went across Maria's face. "I can imagine."

"Is there a specific location that you would like to be sent to?" Optimus inquired, reaching for the Ground Bridge controls.

Gear rattled off a string of coordinates easily. "Static's probably waiting for me there, and if he isn't, I can find him from there."

Optimus gave a slight nod in response, then activated the Ground Bridge. As it came on with its usual flurry of noise, Optimus stated, "Gear, I do not believe that I can thank you and your teammates enough for what they are attempting to do for us."

"Don't worry about it." Gear waved off the statement, grinning under his visor. "This is an everyday thing for the big leagues; I'm just glad to be along for the ride!" He looked over at Maria, then up at Matt, giving the human on the platform something that looked like a salute. "I'll probably be checking in with you guys later."

"See you later, then," Matthew responded.

"And keep working on that device," Maria added. "Right now, that thing and Static could be the few hopes we have of taking out Brainiac."

"Don't I know it!"

Gear dashed through the Ground Bridge and disappeared from sight; Optimus waited for a moment before shutting it down, closing up the portal.

Matthew gave a sigh as Optimus moved away from the controls. "What are we going to tell the others when they get back here? Something tells me they're not going to like this too much...."

"We'll think of something," Maria replied lightly, shrugging up at her brother. "There really isn't much else that we can do at this point, though. What I'm worried about are how the others are going to react -- mostly Jack and the others, though, considering that we have two Cons on the base."

"Considering that they have yet to attempt an attack of any sort, I doubt that they will cause any harm to the other children," Optimus replied. "However, we are right to be cautious, as Decepticons do not see humans as those who are allies. It might be wise if we keep them away from the base for a time."

"What about me and Maria?" Matthew spoke up.

"Perhaps it might be prudent to see what exactly those two would do when left alone with humans," Ratchet commented, reappearing suddenly. "Besides, the two of you can defend yourselves, so I doubt that they'll be able to do too much damage."

"Maybe," Maria commented, frowning. "And since Matthew could probably use some practice with his abilities, it might not be too much of a problem to test it out, I guess."

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea." Matthew frowned. "I've only technically had run-ins with the Cons twice, and I've only used an Aura Sphere against them once."

"Yeah. Starscream." Maria nodded. "I remember you telling us about that."

"I doubt that you will have any trouble, considering what it is that you've been doing in the Safe," Ratchet commented. "We had better contact Arcee and inform her to not bring Jack in for a while. Bulkhead and Bumblebee can be told when they return with the relics."

"Sounds good." Maria started to move towards the elevator. "I think I'll head down to the Safe for a bit and run a few simulations. I want to be ready when we finally end up running against Brainiac."

"I'll go with you." Matthew moved over to the stairs and started down from the platform, joining his sister on the ground floor. "I want to try out a few new things so that I can figure out different ways to use Aura Sphere. There's a few bugs that I need to figure out, too."

"Fine by me." Maria shot her brother a grin. "Maybe we can help each other out with that."


	38. Chapter 38

Maria spent a large amount of time in the simulator, running through the techniques that she already knew and experimenting a bit with her fire and Buster settings. Matthew was over at the target range, doing something similar. The Reploid thought that she saw him coating his arms in blue fire -- representing his Aura -- and he was making punching motions at a couple Starscream cut-outs.

Maria supposed that was one of the techniques that he had been working on, then realized a moment later that he hadn't been out to see any kind of battle with the villains of this particular world.

"You know, training is all well and good, but if you don't have anyone to use your techniques against, it doesn't exactly help you, now does it?" Maria walked away from the simulator, having just gone through another round of Vehicons. It felt good to get rid of some of her pent-up energy, what with there being two Cons in the base, but it was starting to get a bit boring.

"I'm hoping to be able to head out with you guys some time," Matthew replied. He turned away from the targets, his blue fire fading away a bit now that he wasn't firing at targets. "I've been working on figuring out a few tricks, and I think I might be able to tell whether Brainiac's in the aura or not."

That was news for Maria. "What makes you say that?"

"You know that Aura Sight thing that Lucario can do?"

"Yeah -- I asked Luke to use it a few times once to figure out whether or not there were any hostile Pokemon or Trainers in the area. Still scared the heck out of people when I found them lurking around behind a tree or something." Maria chuckled a bit. "Especially when they were Plasma members, and they didn't think that I'd be able to love a Pokemon enough to actually have a Lucario on my team."

"Well, I can kind of do that, too."

Maria blinked a couple times when she heard that. "Really? What does mine look like?"

Matthew frowned at the question, gaining a look that clearly said that he was concentrating. A moment later, he said, "It looks like fire -- literally. I don't know why I didn't notice it earlier."

"Earlier?"

"Yeah -- I wanted to see what the Cons' Auras looked like. Knock Out is going to be really blaringly obvious the next time that I really want to look for him. Soundwave's is as dim as he is quiet, though." Matthew paused for a moment. "And Optimus is a really _deep_ royal blue. Like he's the _actual_ color of a Lucario."

"Whoa." Maria considered that. "Must be because he's a Prime. I don't see any other reason that he'd be that deep of a color. Legendaries and Dragon-Types usually have a variation of that color, according to the Lucario that I've known."

"Really? Huh. That's interesting." Matthew looked back at the targets again, and his fingers twitched a bit. "Hey -- I heard from Jack a while back that there's a bully in town."

"A bully? Those can be pretty common, can't they?" Maria raised an eyebrow at her brother.

"This bully's got red hair and likes to race illegally after sundown. I kinda want to know what the color of _his_ aura is."

"Illegal racing? Well, that's definitely unexpected...." Maria considered her brother's statement. "I haven't really been out of the base and in Jasper all that much, I guess...and I am a bit curious about the area. I don't see why heading out would be so much of a problem. Better than being stuck in here and getting cabin fever."

"That's how I've been feeling the past few days." Matthew cranked his arms a bit, like he was getting ready to punch something. "So, are we gonna get going, then?"

"I don't see why not." Maria started for the elevator, her brother following after her.

_*Aura like fire, huh? I wonder if part of my Spark signature is mixed in with yours*_

_What makes you think that?_ Maria jumped onto her hoverboard so that she could reach the elevator's controls; the door closed, and they started moving up.

* _Our Sparks act just like your Aura -- sounds like Matthew doesn't know that yet. Meaning my friend either isn't helping him learn, or hasn't told him what it is that he's looking at yet.*_

_What makes you think that this friend of yours is in my brother, anyway? You don't exactly have proof for that._

_*Not the kind of proof that you're looking for. You're brother's abilities are more than enough for me*_

The elevator soon came to a stop, and the doors opened so that Maria and Matthew could step out onto the main floor of the base. The only Cybertronians who happened to be present at that point were Ratchet and Optimus, who looked like they had been in deep conversation before the siblings had arrived.

"Hey, Optimus -- mind if we head out for a bit?" Maria looked up at the Prime curiously. "Matthew wants to try a couple of his non-violent techniques out there and not on the target range."

"What kinds of techniques?" Ratchet asked, frowning down at them.

"Aura Sight, mainly," Matthew explained. "I can see the life forces of living beings if I concentrate hard enough, and I want to see how many different shades of color may exist for that."

"Does this mean that you are also capable of seeing the Spark signatures of Cybertronians?" Optimus inquired.

Matthew blinked a couple times, then gave a nod. "Yeah. I tested it out earlier, when Knock Out and Soundwave were in the room. I can kinda tell what emotions they're feeling, too, but it's going to take some time before I'll really be able to tell."

"You mentioned seeing different colors?" Ratchet eyed Matthew curiously.

"Different auras of different people have different shades." Matthew gave a slight shrug. "Maria's looks like its literal flames, Optimus' is a deep royal blue, and yours is like your paint job...with green flashes showing up when you're irritated."

Ratchet didn't look like he liked the description that he got. "Even now, so long after what had happened...." The medic shook his head and let out an irritated sigh. "I suppose there's no escaping any after-effects that may have resulted from my use of the Synthetic Energon."

Maria frowned a bit when she heard that, but then she remembered the story that was behind that. "Well, no one should ever be able to get away from something like that completely unscathed. So, is it all right if we head out to Jasper and test Matthew's ability out?"

"So long as you are careful and do not reveal what exactly it is that you are doing," Optimus responded.

"No one's going to know except for the two of us," Matthew promised.

Maria grinned happily before doing a backflip, easily landing on her hoverboard. "All right. Hop on, Matt -- I can get us probably as far as the outskirts of town before we have to switch to moving on foot."

"Works for me." Matthew climbed up onto the hoverboard and clapped his hands onto his sister's shoulders. "Whenever you're ready."

Maria gave a wide grin as she looked back at her older brother, then took off towards the only exit to the Autobot base -- a hidden driveway that made Maria think of the exit from Batman's own lair. After flying through the hidden driveway, they were out in the desert sun, blasting sand in all directions as Maria went off-road.

"Wow, this is fun! I can see why you like riding around on this thing so much!"

Maria laughed in response to Matthew's statement, even though she could barely hear his words over the wind. "I know, right? If Gear hadn't made it, then I'd be using up a lot of energy using my jet boosters from Dr. Light. I'm glad that I came here after the Smash Worlds Tournament."

"Because of the hoverboard?"

"I got to meet the Justice League and the Autobots! If not for the villains that we've got hanging around here, it feels like some kind of paradise!"

Matthew went silent at that. Maria ignored the fact that her brother hadn't said a word until they had reached the outskirts of Jasper.

"Okay, this is where we get off." Maria stopped right in front of the sign at the city limits, and turned slightly and watched as her older brother jumped off. She followed a moment later, the hoverboard attaching itself to her back again.

It took only one look to see that there was something on Matthew's mind.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Maria quipped. Her armor seemed to flicker as it was replaced with a light-construct hologram of what she used to like wearing: red shirt, orange jacket, jeans, and white shoes with three red stripes on either side.

Matthew blinked a couple times before he shook hie head. "It's nothing."

"Uh huh." Maria frowned at her brother. "That look on your face says otherwise."

Matthew frowned at his sister, then looked over at the town that they were about to enter. "It's just...well, you remember what I said when Unicron was waking up -- how this kind of thing had happened before."

"Yeah. Kinda hard to forget, considering that I hadn't heard about it -- probably because I was Neo-Mobius at the time." Maria made a face. "Kinda makes me wish I was there to help you guys do damage control or something."

"Not that it would have done much. Anyway, the thing is, I'm wondering if we have Cybertronians back at home."

Maria hummed a bit in response, then motioned for her brother to follow her as she started walking down the street. Matthew followed after her, still with that troubled expression on his face.

"You're not the only one who was thinking about it," Maria admitted to her brother. "I've been thinking about that too. And, to be honest, I think there may be some truth in it."

"You're serious." Matthew looked like he wasn't quite believing what it was that his younger sister had said.

"Yeah -- and it's not just because of what happened with Unicron -- it's because of information, too. I only started to find out about the Autobots and Decepticons because of something on fanfiction that I found off-world."

"Fanfiction? Seriously?" Matthew chuckled a bit. "We practically _live_ in one of those. I don't see why you have to still go back to them."

"I like to read stuff like that because it's interesting what people think happens when stories deviate from the original path." Maria shrugged as she glanced back at her brother, grinning. "You never know when a deviant like that is going to be one that I end up going to."

"I hope not."

Maria chuckled a bit at her brother's response. "There are some that are actually pretty good, you know. There's one guy who kinda picked up Calvin and Hobbes and--"

"Well, hello there."

Maria jumped a bit when she heard the unfamiliar voice, and she turned her head and caught sight of a young man with red hair walking across the street with an air about him that clearly said that he was full of himself.

"What are you doing out here with this guy when you could be hanging out with me?" the teenager asked, giving what Maria guessed was probably supposed to be a charming smile.

"Why would I want to hang out with you when I don't know you as well as my brother?" Maria responded, raising an eyebrow. "Who are you, anyway?"

The boy looked a little taken aback by Maria's straightforwardness, but he quickly recovered. "The name's Vince. And you?"

"Maria. This is Matthew."

Vince looked over at Maria's older brother and gave a distracted nod. "Uh-huh. Yeah." He looked back at Maria. "So, you just moved in?"

"Nah; we're just passing through. We've been in the area for a couple months, but we're not going to be sticking around for too long."

"That why I haven't seen you in school?"

"Don't need it." Maria shrugged.

"Graduated already," Matthew put in.

Vince ignored Matthew. "You're that smart, huh? I'm pretty smart, too. How about the two of us go out to dinner or something and talk about how stupid teachers are?"

"Our father is a history teacher." Maria was starting to get rather annoyed with Vince. "Just because I'm smart enough not to go to school doesn't mean that I don't like to learn." The Reploid was starting to get the feeling that this "Vince" was one of those pimps that people would want to avoid.

Vince gained an expression that said he wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to do for a minute. Then he said quickly, "I'm not dissing history teachers -- i-it's just--"

"Save it for the girls who actually feel the same way that you do." Maria stopped Vince from saying another word. "I highly doubt that you'd like to hang around a goody two-shoes like me -- especially if my brother decides to breathe down your neck. He was a part of our high school's football team."

Matthew slammed a fist into an open hand as though that was enough incentive to get Vince to move.

The redhead blinked a couple times out of surprise before gaining a scoffing expression. "Fine. Whatever. I'm too good for you, anyway." With that, he turned on his heel and walked down the street without looking back.

"Well, isn't he full of himself," Matthew remarked, frowning at the back of the teenager.

"Yeah." Maria blinked a couple times before gaining a somewhat amused look. "He kinda looked like Draco Malfoy for a second there."

"And his aura was like Knock Out's -- red, but it's a bit dimmer. Maybe because he isn't quite as full of himself."

"Or maybe because he's not a Decepticon."

Matthew chuckled a bit. "Maybe that too. Come on -- maybe we can find Jack and the others."

"Sure."

The two siblings grinned at each other before they started down the street again, taking their time and looking at the buildings and the people around them. Maria caught sight of Matthew closing one eye occasionally when they would pass by a group of people. She thought that his still-open eye looked like it was flashing a brighter color, but she didn't make a point to say anything about it when they were still out in the open.

Besides, she liked being able to make small talk to the people around town without making it look like they were there for anything other than a walk.

"Hey, excuse me -- you wouldn't happen to know where the high school is, would you?" Maria looked at the adult that they had managed to stop while Matthew kept the man's gold lab's attention. "We're visiting for a couple months, and we wanted to try and find a few friends of ours."

"It's not too far from here." The man pointed down the street. "It's around the corner to the left and down the street a good distance. You can't miss it."

"Kay. Thanks for the help!"

"No problem. School just got out for the day, I think, so you should be able to find your friends without any issue."

"That's good." Matthew got to his feet, ruffling the dog's ears. He and Maria then started down the street, once again saying thanks to the man for his directions. They then turned the corner that had been pointed out to them and started towards the school -- which could clearly be seen over the other buildings in the area.

"That's the school?" Maria looked at the building, glancing up and down at the building they were approaching. "Looks like it should be in the suburbs of a city or something."

"Well, a school has to look good," Matthew stated playfully. "Otherwise, the kids may like going to school even less."

"Oh?" Maria glanced over at her brother, considering the statement. "I guess that makes sense." She looked back at the school. "Oh, hey -- looks like Jack and the others are already out there. Come on." Maria promptly broke out into a jog, Matthew keeping stride with her as they made their way over to the school.

Miko was the one who noticed them first. The foreign exchange student jumped up from where she was sitting on the stairs and bounded over to the two of them. "Hey, guys! Why're you out here?"

Jack and Raf looked up as Maria and Matthew came to a stop.

"Where's Arcee and the others?" Jack asked, frowning at the siblings.

"Relic hunting." Matthew stuck his hands in his pockets. "We wanted a little air, so we came out here to have a look around town."

"There's something else too, though." Maria rubbed the back of her head. "We've got a couple guys in the base who decided to join up with us until this Brainiac thing is settled out."

"Who is it?" Raf pushed up his glasses a bit.

"Oh...just a couple Cons who managed to avoid Brainiac's possession."

 _That_ got the trio's attention.

"Decepticons? In the base?" Jack looked a little lost for words.

"Which ones?" Miko put her hands on her hips, gaining a serious expression.

"Slenderman and Narcissus." Maria shrugged.

"Soundwave and Knock Out," Matthew corrected.

Maria sent her brother a curious look before shaking her head and returning her attention to the others. "The point is that Soundwave noticed that there was something wrong and decided to get off the _Nemesis_ while he still could. He ended up bringing KO with him, and they're on-base now. They don't want to bring you guys onto base for a while -- just to make sure that they don't end up squishing one of you for fun. They're letting the two of us stay on-base, though."

"No fair!" Miko complained.

"Aren't you two in the same danger?" Jack asked, frowning.

"I'm not technically human," the Reploid pointed out. "And they've seen me already, remember? When I chased after Pax onto their ship?"

"And I can hold my own, even though I haven't been in any fights yet." Matthew held up a hand, and blue fire started to flicker on his fingertips for a moment. "Any one of you know about the Pokemon called Lucario?"

"You mean that jackal thing?" Jack's frown deepened. "What about it?"

"I can basically do what it can do -- use something called Aura as a weapon. I can sense other people's Auras, too, but I haven't gotten much practice at that in yet. That's part of why I'm out here."

"So...you can tell where people are?" Miko's eyes widened as she gained a large grin. "That's so cool! Do you think you can predict their moves, too?"

Matthew frowned a bit at the question. "I don't think so. It's just sensing where they are."

Miko gained a disappointed expression at that. "It would be so cool if you could figure out what they might be able to do...."

Maria raised an eyebrow at that. "What makes you say that? Do you know of an ability that lets people do that?"

"Only in a manga that I've been keeping up with." Miko looked at Maria curiously. "Have you ever heard of--"

Miko's question was interrupted by a cell phone going off.

"It's mine." Matthew dug into a jeans pocket and pulled out his iPhone before unlocking it and putting it up to his ear. "Hello?" Maria's brother's face shifted to recognition. "Yeah, we're in front of the school with the others right now, why?" A frown soon followed. "Are you sure? We said before that they shouldn't come into the base because of--...wait, what? They really said that? Has Mrs. Darby been--....okay. We'll wait out here for you guys, then."

"What is it?" Maria blurted the question out as Matthew put his iPhone back into his pocket. "Has something come up?"

"Yeah, if you could call it that." Matthew stuck his hands in his pockets. "Apparently, Ratchet said that Soundwave thinks that Brainiac could end up going after you guys too, since Megatron -- and now Brainiac -- know that you're allies of the Bots. Everybody's getting called into the base, Cons or no Cons. Fowler's heading there now."

"He's not going to like the fact that we have Cons in the base," Raf remarked.

Maria nodded a bit, then a smirk started to grow across her face. "He's probably going to have a rather nasty heart attack when he find out and yells at Optimus for it. I can only imagine what the Cons are going to think of us for that." Maria's expression sobered a bit. "I wonder who's going to be picking all of us up. "I could fly back on my hoverboard just fine, to be honest."

"You don't have enough room on that for all of us," Raf noted. His comment caused Miko to deflate out of disappointment.

"I was really hoping to get a ride on that," Miko whined.

"Maybe later." Maria gave a shrug.

"I can sense them coming." Matthew closed an eye. "Looks like...two cars. No, three -- Knock Out and two Auras I haven't identified yet. Probably Bumblebee and Bulkhead, considering that one's a deep green and the other's yellow and black."

As Matthew finished speaking, a green SUV, a familiar black and yellow Urbana, and a bright cherry red sports car that appeared to be absolutely spotless.

Miko instantly dashed for Bulkhead, while Jack and Raf made a beeline for Bumblebee. Matthew and Maria looked back and forth between the three cars present, frowning a bit.

"Come on, guys!" Miko waved from the passenger seat of Bulkhead's vehicle mode. "There's plenty of room over here."

"Certainly looks like it, compared to Bee," Maria commented. She elbowed her brother, then started for the green SUV.

Matthew followed after his sister, and the two reached Bulkhead's back half at the same time. When the Reploid grabbed hold of the door, however, Bulkhead gave a honk.

"Sorry, Maria, but Optimus asked that you ride with Knock Out," Bulkhead explained in an apologetic tone.

The Reploid frowned, then looked over at the cherry red sports car. "Me? Why not anyone else?"

"He's got issues with who touches his leather, like Sunstreaker. He'd only let you in because you're made of metal and probably won't drop any dead skin or anything."

Maria's frown deepened. "Well, if you say so. See you back at base, Matt."

"Sure. Don't bug the Con too much." Matthew clapped a hand on her shoulder before climbing into Bulkhead's backseat. As he closed the door behind him, Maria moved over to Knock Out's vehicle mode and stood in front his shotgun door, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Permission to come aboard?" Maria asked, raising an eyebrow.

The passenger-side door popped open in response, and the Reploid slid in and buckled in the seatbelt as the door slammed shut.

"Well, at least you're polite about it," Knock Out commented dryly. Maria could hear his voice come from the dash. "Why'd you have to buckle that thing, anyway?"

"Habit, I guess." Maria gave a shrug as Knock Out started to roll forward, Bulkhead behind him and Bumblebee in front of him. "Cars can sometimes be driven by dumb humans who can cause accidents. Even the nice-looking cars."

Maria felt a shudder go through the car.

"Idiot humans...." Knock Out trailed off into softer mumblings that made Maria wonder if he was swearing in Cybertronian. "How can you stand it?"

"I used to be human. The only reason I'm not is because a man turned me into a robot in order to save my life." Maria shrugged again.

"Really? Who managed to do that?"

"You probably wouldn't know him. He lives in another dimension."

"Another dimension? Kid, are you saying that you can travel to other dimensions?" Knock Out sounded like he didn't believe what it was that was being said.

Maria gained a suspicious frown. "What makes you want to know?"

"I, uh...I saw that interview-thing that Optimus decided to pull. Sounded like they were more excited about seeing you than any of the Autobrats."

"Oh, yeah, that." Maria smirked a bit. "Comes from getting video games made in other dimensions, I guess."

"So you really _do_ claim that you're a World Jumper." Knock Out let out a short laugh. "You must have your wires crossed somewhere in that processor of yours."

Maria frowned a bit. "And where do you think I came from, then?"

"How about that little story you told Megatron before on the _Nemesis?_ The one about you being created and just wandering around freely?"

Maria blinked a couple times, then remembered what she had said when she had snuck onto the Con ship. "Oh, that? You can still believe that if you want. I just said it so that I wouldn't end up getting ripped a new one hanging around Pax."

Knock Out made a spluttering noise. "S-seriously?"

Maria felt the seatbelt tighten a bit, and she raised a hand warningly. "Hey, now. You do anything to me, and my brother will rip you a new one. Have you seen Starscream and his dented wing yet?"

The seatbelt relaxed, and Maria lowered her hand.

"You know, you might have made for a good Decepticon," Knock Out commented. "Maybe with Soundwave's Mini-Cons or something."

Maria frowned at the statement. "No thanks. I'm not the kind of person who wants to beat people down in order to get more power -- I do it because I don't want things to go wrong."

"Go wrong?" Knock Out snorted. "We Decepticons wanted to stop the caste system! We were the only ones who were standing up against it. And then this _librarian_ decides to come along, act like our friend, and get crowned Prime by the old ways! What makes you think that we're in the wrong?"

"The way you go about it. What makes you think that your ways are the best way? It sounds like you want to act like tyrants more than anyone else. Ever heard of Adolf Hitler?"

"You mean that German guy who killed all those fleshlings?"

Maria blinked a couple times before shaking the questions out of her head. "He wanted to create the perfect empire, and he decided to kill an entire race of people that he felt were inferior. It was the completely wrong way to go about it because of how much of a variety there is in humankind -- and how much we need that variety."

Knock Out snorted. "Are you trying to compare Lord Megatron to some stupid fleshy?"

"I'm saying that you're going about this the wrong way."

It was at this point that they finally managed to reach the Autobot base; Maria felt the seatbelt unbuckle on its own and was thrown out of Knock Out's vehicle mode as he transformed rather abruptly. The throw didn't do anything damaging to the Reploid, however; she simply landed on her feet and skidded a short distance in a crouching stance before coming to a stop.

Knock Out leveled a glare at Maria, then turned on his heel and stalked off -- probably towards his quarters. Maria sent a sour glare after him, but didn't say anything more to the Decepticon. She figured that there probably wasn't anything else _to_ say, considering that he seemed to be pretty stubborn about his views.

And if she couldn't even get a reaction out of Knock Out about everything that was going on in their war, it was likely that Soundwave wasn't going to do anything, either.

"You looked like you really ticked him off," Matthew commented, walking over to his sister as Bumblebee and Bulkhead transformed. Out of the corner of one eye, Maria caught sight of Jack running over to Mrs. Darby.

"We talked for a bit...went from me being a World Jumper to trying to convince him that what the Cons are doing isn't the right thing." Maria shrugged.

"That probably isn't going to make being near each other any easier." Matthew frowned.

"Eh...yeah, I guess so...." Maria rubbed the back of her head, looking a little sheepish as the thought came to mind. "Not really all that much we can do now, though, huh?"

Matthew rolled his eyes. "Maria, I thought you stopped doing stuff like that."

"The opportunity didn't present itself, so I guess it only looked like I stopped debating with people."

" _Attempting_ to debate, you mean." Matthew ruffled his sister's hair before turning and walking off in the direction of the other humans on the base -- they had all gathered on the raised platforms and appeared somewhat nervous after seeing Knock Out stomp off like he had. "Come on -- Fowler's probably gonna be here any minute."

Maria gave a slight nod before following after her brother, moving up onto the platform and joining the others.

Maria and the her brother reached the others as Fowler came stomping in from the human-sized elevator that only went to the roof.

"Prime!" the government agent roared. "What is the meaning behind calling me out here like this?! Don't tell me it's got something to do with the Cons again!"

"That is not quite the case, Agent Fowler." Optimus made his way across the room to look the dark-skinned human in the eye. "We believe that it may be possible that the virus that presently controls Megatron may also find a way to take control of our human allies. Including yourself."

"And you're not worried about the Justice League?" Fowler responded pointedly.

"They've faced down Brainiac before and beaten him," Maria called out. "We haven't yet."

Fowler sent Maria an irritated glance. "And what exactly makes you think that makes all the differences?"

"Sir, the Justice League superheroes have worked together enough that they know everything that Brainiac might be able to pull with them physically," Matthew explained. "And they know all of Brainiac's weaknesses -- they can't say the same of the Autobots, Decepticons, or us."

Fowler frowned and folded his arms across his chest at that, clearly looking doubtful.

Maria frowned herself, wondering what exactly she might be able to do that could convince Fowler of what it was that she was saying.

Before anyone could say anything else, however, there came a beeping noise from the computer. Ratchet, who happened to be standing in front of it, let out a groan of annoyance before turning to face the inanimate machine. "Who in the name of the AllSpark is trying to contact us _now?_ Jazz and the others have already returned with the relics that we had managed to locate."

Ratchet managed to get his answer when the familiar face of a certain teenage Gotham vigilante appeared on the screen.

 _::We believe that Brainiac is going to move tonight::_ Nightwing said grimly.


	39. Chapter 39

_::We believe that Brainiac is going to move tonight:: Nightwing said grimly._

Everyone who happened to be present in the room at the time -- the humans, Optimus, Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee -- looked at Nightwing with mixed expressions, ranging from shocked surprise to grim seriousness.

"What is it that he intends to do?" Optimus inquired.

_::Honestly? It could be anything from drawing all of us out into a trap of his design to starting to digitize the entire planet. All we know is that Lex Luthor said he was going to be unveiling something that is going to change the world tonight::_

Maria frowned when she heard that. "Change the world...."

Almost as though the words had triggered something, Maria's vision went dark for a moment.

**Vision Break**

_A strange machine in the center of the square started to rattle and shake; something colored a sickly green was shot out at the figures scattered around it; they looked like they had just been in the middle of a battle of some kind...._

**Vision Break**

Maria's eyes snapped open, and she sucked in a breath. That didn't look good. ****

"Sounds bad either way," Jack was saying from where he stood near his mother.

"What are we going to do about it?" Raf asked.

 _::Hopefully, we will take him out tonight before he manages to go through with it::_ Nightwing glanced over the room. _::We don't want to endanger any of you, but considering that you have fought Megatron for longer than we have, we have to rely on you in order to take him down::_

Optimus gave a slight nod in response to this. "Where and when is it that Brainiac is planning on proceeding with the unveiling?"

_::In the center of Metropolis, pretty much where you revealed yourselves to the world. Batman's busy getting a team together so that we can rendezvous there at seven, a half-hour before the time Luthor announced. Choose who you're going to bring with you carefully -- Brainiac is most likely planning on having all of us brought under his control, and we don't want to have to fight any of you::_

With that, the connection was promptly severed, leaving the Autobots and humans present looking at the blank screen with grim expressions.

Optimus turned away from the monitor and looked at the others present, his optics scanning each figure, be they Cybertronian or human.

"Think we should call the others in here?" Arcee asked, jabbing a digit in the direction that Knock Out had disappeared off in. "Jazz and the twins are probably going to want in."

Optimus looked over at the femme for a moment before giving a slight nod. "It would be considered wise. However, I do not think that we will all be going to this fight."

 **"It's about that whole Brainiac thing, isn't it?"** Bumblebee whirred.

"Indeed. I am not about to have all of us placed in such a position that we could become slaves to this diabolical virus. Therefore, some will remain behind to protect those who cannot fight." Optimus turned his helm and looked in the direction of the human figures. "You must remain here, to ensure that you will not be taken."

"With all due respect, Optimus, I came here because I sensed there was something going on here that was going to cause some things to go wrong." Maria stepped forward and gripped the railing, a determined glint in her eyes. "I'm not going to just stand by -- not when I've already tried to fight that green monster and his mind-controlled cronies."

"Hey! That's Lord Megatron you're talking about -- show some respect!"

Heads and helms alike turned when Knock Out's annoyed voice resounded; the cherry red mech walked into the room, followed by Smokescreen, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Jazz, and the ever-silent Soundwave.

"What do you think you're doing?" Bulkhead asked, frowning.

"I overheard what was goin' on over da frequencies, so I figured it might be a good idea to get us all together." Jazz shrugged, smirking a bit.

Ratchet eyed Jazz suspiciously. "If you access our communication frequencies it in the presence of Soundwave--"

"Relax, Ratch. I got Slendermech and de others when Nightwing was done lettin' us know what was goin' on." Jazz looked at Optimus. "So, any ideas on who's goin' and who's stayin'?"

Maria glanced over at Jazz, eyeing the visored mech for a moment before returning her attention to Optimus. "Like it or not, I really should to go. As a World Jumper, it's my obligation to keep worlds in balance -- if this doesn't count as something that could upset this world, I don't know what would."

"You didn't help when Unicron started to wake up," Matthew pointed out.

Maria leveled a glare at her brother. "You said that the exact same thing had happened back at home, and our planet came out just fine afterwards. _This_ is something I'm really worried about."

Matthew frowned. "Maria, you're a _Reploid._ If Brainiac gets into you, who knows what damage he might be able to do? You should stay out of this."

Maria opened her mouth to issue a retort at her brother when Optimus spoke again. "Agreed. I am not about to allow you to join us in our fight against him."

Maria turned to look at Optimus in alarm, but when she saw the grim, almost determined expression on his face, she gritted her teeth before letting out a sigh of frustration that almost sounded like a growl.

"All righ'. So, if I'm rememberin' right, this Brainiac guy could end up pulling mind control tricks on any of us," Jazz stated. "Which means he could manage to learn secrets about our weak points from any one of us."

"We are also aware of weaknesses that those under Brainiac's control possess," Optimus said.

Maria's eyes narrowed a bit. "And Megatron's gonna let him have access to knowledge about you guys."

"Which leaves us at a bit of a stalemate, doesn't it?" Arcee commented.

"Maybe we should go!" Sideswipe gave a wide grin. "I mean, we haven't fought him face-to-face like Prime has, so he wouldn't know how to take us out!"

Knock Out suddenly burst out laughing. "Do you really thing that that's going to stop him? Megatron was a gladiator -- if he can't find a weakness, he'll _make_ one. Probably the only one of you morons who would have a chance at all of taking him down would be Big O over there." He jabbed a digit in Optimus' direction, gaining more of a serious expression.

"You know, we could just send the two of you out there," Bulkhead said, frowning at the two Cons. "You're his medic; you know Megatron's body inside and out."

"Puleease! And mess up this paint job? No thank you."

 _"Megatron was a gladiator -- if he can't find a weakness, he'll make one,"_ Soundwave mimicked Knock Out.

"Then what are we gonna do?" Miko asked.

Ratchet snorted. "We? Oh, no -- you're not getting involved, Miko."

"We're kinda stuck together, whether I'm going to go out and fight or not." Miko folded her arms across her chest.

Maria nodded in agreement, a sour look still on her face from when she had been told that she wasn't going. "If we don't take care of Brainiac, then everything we have at stake is going to be lost."

Optimus nodded slightly in agreement. "I believe that it would be best that a squad consisting of Knock Out, Soundwave, Arcee, Jazz, and myself will assist the Justice League against Brainiac."

"Optimus, you could end up being--"

Optimus cut Bulkhead off. "That is a risk that I am willing to take, Bulkhead. I am aware of movements that Megatron may proceed to take in the upcoming battle; therefore, it would make the most sense that I should be the one to confront him directly."

Maria's eyebrows shifted closer together as she gained an expression of concern. It was starting to sound somewhat like when Optimus and the others had gone down into the core to face off against Unicron, but...the only difference was that they were facing a villain who could potentially turn them against each other -- or against the world that they were using as their new home.

Matthew seemed to catch sight of Maria's nervous expression, because he wrapped an arm around one shoulder in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture. Considering that Maria was now made of metal, though, she hardly noticed that Matthew was squeezing her shoulder until he pulled her closer to him.

Maria glanced at her older brother for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly it was that was going through his head. It may have just looked like he was concerned for her, but the Reploid figured that there had to have been something else going through his head.

"We have a few hours to prepare," Optimus spoke. "I would suggest spending that time wisely."

With that, Optimus turned and walked out of the room. His optics lingered on Maria and Matthew for a moment, but then the Autobot leader was out of their sight.

The Autobots and allied Decepticons looked at each other for a moment after Optimus had disappeared from sight. Then Soundwave disappeared into the shadows, practically blending with them as he disappeared from sight; Maria hoped that he wasn't planning on sticking around to spy on the rest of them.

Knock Out moaned in despair. "Well, isn't this just great! Now I have to go face-to-face against Megatron! Will the horrors I've had to face today never end?!"

"Hopefully, when we stop Brainiac," Arcee retorted in a clipped tone; it was obvious that she didn't like the situation very much, either. "Facing Megatron is going to be enough of a challenge as it is."

"I'm up to it." Jazz smirked for a moment, but that soon faded into a more serious expression. "But dat Brainiac thing's gonna be tricky."

Maria thought back to what she knew about the stupid computer virus -- everything that she had seen in the _Justice League_ episodes and what comic books she had managed to get her hands on. A shudder passed through her as the vision from before ended up coming back, but it only hardened her conviction that she had to be there for the battle.

 _*If you're feeling so intent about going to what may end up being your death, I'm starting to get a little worried about you*_ Inferno commented. _*Kid, you do realize that you're not human or Cybertronian, right?*_

Maria frowned when she heard the femme's comment. _I know that, but that doesn't keep me from having the feeling that I absolutely have to be there for this._

_*What makes you think that you have to be there, anyway?*_

_Have you_ seen _the vision that just hit me?_

Inferno didn't answer for a moment. Maria decided that she probably hadn't seen it.

**Line Break**

The remaining time they had before the planned rendezvous time was spent wisely on the part of the Autobots. Knock Out and Soundwave remained out of the main room, while the Autobots moved to spend time with the humans who happened to be on the base.

Maria moved to the base's main floor, drifting around the area with a slight frown on her face as she replayed the vision over and over again in her mind. She was trying to see if there was anything that she find out about what was going to happen in the near future. So far, however, the Reploid hadn't been able to figure out anything that might give her any help -- or a warning.

"Stupid visions and their stupid fogginess," Maria muttered under her breath.

"Did I just hear you right?"

Maria looked up when she heard her brother's voice, and she caught sight of him standing near where she had been sitting.

"You had another vision?" Matthew asked, looking at his sister with a curious expression. "Since when?"

"Since I said that I should go with them to fight Brainiac," Maria replied, rubbing her head as an annoyed expression crossed her face. "I'm not exactly sure what it was that I saw, and I've been trying to figure it out."

"Let me guess. You haven't had any luck at all."

Maria let out a low growl in annoyance in response to her brother's statement. "You have no idea how annoying it is, considering that this is a matter of life and death."

Matthew looked up at the Ground Bridge, which Maria happened to be sitting next to. "You're planning on sneaking after them, aren't you?"

Maria didn't answer her brother, but the glare that was on her face seemed to be more than enough to an answer for Matthew.

Matthew sighed and shook his head at his younger sister. "Maria, I didn't think that you could be that reckless. You remember what happened the last time that you fought Brainiac, right?"

"That was because neither Batman nor I knew that we were going to be running into a Brainiac-controlled Megatron!" Maria leapt to her feet and glared at her brother. "If that hadn't been the case--"

"Who knows what you could have found," Mathew interrupted. "It could have been something far worse for all we know."

Maria sent her brother a glowering look that clearly said she didn't like the point her brother was making. She folded her arms across her chest and made a huffing noise of annoyance.

Matthew frowned a bit at his sister's antics. "Maria...shouldn't you be a little more mature about all of this? You've traveled to other places more often that I have."

Maria's glowering expression shifted to one of annoyance before it became something more akin to exhaustion instead. "I want to help. Is that so bad?"

"If it'll get you killed a lot more easily than those guys, then it is, I think. We've got Mom and Dad and the others to worry about at home, remember? If you're going to try anything, at least make sure that it isn't a suicide attempt first."

"I'm not worried -- I've faced big enemies before, remember? The Legendary Pokemon?"

"None of those were giant robot aliens who were being mind-controlled by a computer virus."

"But some of them _were_ crazy because of Darkrai at one point. Or do I need to remind you that Dialga wasn't exactly right in the head at one point?" Maria smirked dryly.

"Yeah, I get your point -- you've taken on enemies that have been larger than you before. But have you fought ones that are possibly _smarter_? Brainiac has more brains in him than you do. Maria, you can't just sneak out and expect to come out on top."

Maria considered her brother's words for a moment. She wasn't planning on throwing her life away -- the main thing was that she felt somewhere in her gut like she needed to be there for what was going to happen.

"In my vision, I saw what looked like the remains of a battleground in the middle of a city -- maybe Metropolis, maybe somewhere else. There was a machine in the middle of everything, and it shot out these green lights in all directions...I can't help but get the feeling that it may be the thing that Luthor's so intent on revealing tonight." Maria paused, gauging her brother's reaction for a moment before continuing. "I can't help but get the feeling that if I don't go and help, something bad may end up happening."

Matthew frowned. "Green lights, a machine, and a battleground...." His frown deepened. "Are you sure that you didn't see anything else?"

"Positive. I've gone over it at least ten times now, and I still haven't found anything else."

Matthew remained silent for a moment, leaving Maria to wonder what exactly it was that was going through her brother's head.

"Maybe you should wait for a while before you go and see what's going on," Matthew finally suggested. "Ratchet's staying behind, remember -- if they're going to end up calling you for help, then you can rush in there as recklessly as you want."

"I'm not planning on being reckless!" Maria glowered at her brother.

"Well, it definitely sounded like you were planning on it."

**Time Break**

It took a few more hours before Optimus reappeared in the main room of the base, with the Star Saber across his back and a serious expression on his face. Knock Out and Soundwave appeared not too long afterwards, Knock Out looking extremely sullen now that they were heading out to fight Brainiac -- and, by extent, the leader of the Decepticons.

"Ratchet, activate the Ground Bridge," Optimus stated.

Ratchet eyed Optimus with something of a hesitant expression. "Optimus, are you certain that you want to be the one to combat this threat? If this Brainiac manages to gain control of you--"

"That is a risk that I am willing to take," Optimus responded.

Ratchet hesitated for a moment, then gave a slight nod in response before inputting the coordinates needed and activating the Ground Bridge. The swirling green vortex came to life, and the group of three Autobots and two Decepticons passed through moments later.

Maria and Matthew watched them go from where they were standing next to the Ground Bridge; Matthew had a hand on his sister's metal shoulder in what appeared to be an almost protective manner.

Ratchet shut the Ground Bridge down and looked at those who remained in the base. "I'm leaving the communications open so that we can hear what is happening."

Maria gave a slight nod in response, but said nothing. She felt a little distracted and concerned, considering what had happened in her vision.

"Come on." Matthew started to push Maria in the direction of the others. "You need to get that thing out of your mind, or else you're just going to end up burning yourself out."

"I control fire, Matt." Maria sent her brother a dead-pan expression. "I don't think I'm in danger of burning myself out."

"Machines can burn themselves out. You're a machine -- now, at least. I wouldn't be surprised if you were able to wear down your circuits from using them too much or something."

Maria scowled at her brother at the idea.

"What is it that you're so worried about?" Raf asked, frowning.

"Just...." Maria let out a sigh and ran her fingers through her hair. "I don't want to think about what it is that the others could be facing right now. It makes me nervous."

"Well, you ran into Brainiac before, right?" Jack asked. "I can think that you would be at least a little nervous, considering what it is that he can do."

"It's not so much him as what Brainiac can do with a Cybertronian and a human who is pretty smart, considering how many weapons he's made as a weapons contractor." Maria's face scrunched up a bit into an expression that appeared to be concern. "I'm worried what it is that Brainiac might be able to do with all of that knowledge at his fingertips."

The others exchanged glances, gaining mixed expressions.

Miko snorted. "The Bots are gonna be fine. I mean, it's just Megatron and Luthor -- and they're fighting with the Justice League, too. Earth's greatest defenders and all that."

"Some of them have been controlled by Brainiac too," Maria pointed out. "He knows their weaknesses as much as they know them. That doesn't mean that I don't believe in them -- I'm just saying that it's going to be a difficult fight ahead of them."

"Not that they haven't had difficult fights before," Matthew added. "But add the Autobots and Decepticons into the mix, and who knows what could end up happening."

Maria nodded slightly in agreement, the vision coming to the forefront of her mind again.

She hoped that it wouldn't end up causing them a lot of trouble, in any case.


	40. Chapter 40

They didn't hear anything from Optimus and the others until about 7:15 p.m.

 _::It appears that we were correct in assuming that what Luthor was planning was a trap of some kind::_ Optimus said grimly. Maria thought she could hear what sounded like the sound of battle in the background. _::I am grateful that Megatron did not expect the Cybertronians here with me::_

Maria blinked a couple times when she heard that, feeling a small amount of relief when she heard that Arcee and the others had been unexpected.

_::I also believe that Megatron may also be fighting against Brainiac -- his movements seem jagged at times, and he seems to struggle against himself::_

"He's _what?"_ Maria repeated in surprise.

"Is he managing to do that with just his will?" Matthew wondered.

 _*Sounds like something Sparkseer would say*_ Inferno commented.

Maria looked over at her brother curiously, frowning slightly.

"Do you think it's possible that Megs could break free?" Miko asked.

"Maybe." Raf pushed his glasses up. "From what we've been told, though, it sounds like he'd need Static's help in order to be able to break free completely."

"Cybertronians are different from humans," Ratchet stated. "I wouldn't be surprised if the parameters that Brainiac has would be forced to change for the sake of the being he happens to be controlling."

"Considering that most races are at least a little like humans....." Matthew frowned, thinking for a moment. "But since Cybertronians are more robotic, he'd probably treat you guys like a computer."

Ratchet snorted at the idea. Maria just looked at her brother with an expression of surprise and shock.

"A computer...?" Maria bit her lower lip. "He'd probably have an easier time breaking in, then, since he originated _in_ a computer."

The others exchanged glances when they heard Maria's statement; Matthew's eyebrows scrunched together while Raf gained a concerned expression.

"If that's true, then wouldn't Optimus and the others be in even _more_ danger?" Raf asked.

"Not if they manage to destroy the connection between the victims and the virus first," Ratchet responded. "And considering that the humans have done such a thing before, I wouldn't be too worried."

Maria's ears twitched a bit. Was it just her, or did it sound like Rachet's voice was trembling a little bit out of worry? Was he more concerned than he was letting on?

The muted sounds of blaster fire and yells started coming through the communication system again, but it wasn't Optimus who spoke this time.

 _::Maria, are ya there?::_ Jazz asked.

"Yeah, I'm here," Maria responded, raising her voice enough so that it would be picked up. "What's up?"

_::Brainiac seems ta be lookin' fer ya. Any guesses why?::_

"I ended up running into him before when Batman asked me to infiltrate Luthor's building," Maria explained. "He may be looking for a way to find me and take me over because of all the power I ended up showing off in order to try get out of there." She frowned. "Why are you asking anyway, Jazz? Didn't I explain about all of that already?

_::Ya only mentioned that ya ran into him. Ya didn' mention da whole power thing. Man, ya really must'a gotten his attention, den, since he's been avoidin' us an' demandin' dat you come out or else::_

"Well, I want to come out and help, but my brother doesn't want me to pull another stunt like I did the last time I crossed paths with that computer monster." Maria folded her arms across her chest, frowning.

_::Well, it might be a good idea if you did come out here. Dat lil' human's pulling sometin wit' some kinda gun -- took Supes out in one hit, an' da Kryptonian ain't gettin' back up. Megsy's trouncin' da rest of us, too -- he's pullin' some moves dat I ain't seen 'im use befo-- gah!::_

"Jazz!" Maria gripped the railing, willing Jazz to say something else. "Jazz, are you all right?"

Ratchet started typing quickly. "It looks like we've lost all connection with Jazz and the others. It looks like a scrambler has been set up in the area."

"Then we have to get in there and figure out what's going on!" Smokescreen raised a clenched servo. "They could need our help!"

Maria was about to open her mouth in order to say something else, but then something went through her head -- a feeling of foreboding and fear that ran down her spine and twisted her stomach to the point that it almost felt like she was going to throw up. The vision from before -- of the machine with the glowing green tentacles -- dashed through her mind again, leaving Maria feeling like there was a chill starting to gather around her rather than the usual feeling of at least some heat.

"Maria, are you feeling all right?" Matthew asked, looking concerned. "You're trembling." He reached over and grabbed one of her arms, only to suddenly pull back. "Whoa!"

"What?" Jack came over. "What's going on?"

"Maria -- you're body's ice cold!"

Maria looked over at her brother with an expression that clearly said that she had been expecting her brother to say something like that. "Something bad's gonna happen. _Really_ bad." Maria started to dash towards the stairs, a panicked expression starting to appear on her face. "Ratch! Open the Ground Bridge there now! I need to get over there ASAP!"

Ratchet looked down at Maria with a surprised expression before it shifted to his usual grumpy one. "I am not going to let you go out on that battlefield--"

"There's a chance that Brainiac's gonna take over the others out there with that trap of his in order to go after me! I'm going to go to him so that you guys can still have some more time as yourselves!"

"Where did you come up with that idea?!" Matthew called out in shock an surprise.

Maria rounded on her brother as she came to a stop in front of the Ground Bridge. "I'm a World Jumper! What do you think?"

If it was meant to be a joke, Maria didn't seem to think of it as such; she had such a look on her face that clearly said that she wasn't in the mood for any laughter at the moment.

"Maria, are you really sure about this?" Jack asked. "The Autobots--"

"Are just as susceptible to what Brainiac can do as everyone else here," Matthew responded. "If their minds are technically like computers, Brainiac's gonna tear through their defenses the best because he's used to them."

"Exactly." Maria nodded.

"Maria, then you are just as weak," Ratchet pointed out willingly.

"That may be, but I don't care! I've been told a few times now that as a World Jumper, I'm supposed to keep the worlds in balance! This counts as an act that could throw a world out of balance, and I'm not about to just stand by and let Brainiac do what he wants with Megatron, Luthor, and everyone else!" Maria was starting to pant heavily before her voice suddenly grew louder. " _And I'm not about to let anyone get their personality and everything else taken from them by a stupid invasive program!"_

For a second, it almost appeared as though there was a copy of Maria standing next to her, with blank white eyes and a sky blue "W" on her chest. But it was soon gone.

Matthew blinked a couple times, wondering what it was that he had just seen, before his eyes widened a moment later. _Was that what Maria looked like when...?_

Maria turned and looked up at Ratchet, frowning. "Are you going to open the Ground Bridge? Because I'm more than willing to go supersonic and cross the nation in order to get to where the fight is."

Ratchet hesitated for a moment, considering what it was that Maria was saying -- and how Matthew was staring at his sister. Then he gave a sigh and a relenting nod. "All right, I'm going to open the Ground Bridge. But I'm closing it as soon as you go through, so I suggest that you move quickly."

Maria gave a nod in response. "Right." She did a sudden backflip, landing on her hoverboard as it detached from her back. "Whenever you're ready."

Ratchet flipped the switch, turning on the portal. "May Primus be with you."

Maria gave another nod, then zoomed forward into the green vortex. She shot out the other side moments later, the portal nearly clipping the back end of her hoverboard. She didn't pay any attention to that, though. She was looking at what was ahead of her.

The red and orange-armored Reploid blasted out of an alley and into the square they had been in earlier -- when Bruce Wayne (*cough*Batman*cough*) had officially introduced the Autobots to the world. She came to a rather abrupt stop when she saw what exactly was there.

Maria gritted her teeth, frowning at the destruction that she was seeing. The Justice League and Cybertronians who had come to stop Brainiac were scattered all over the square, pieces of nearby skyscrapers scattered all over the area. Most of the Cybertronians had actually ended up thrown _into_ skyscrapers, where they were lying as though they had been thrown into a rocky chair.

Maria decided that now would be as good a time as any to use some of the other systems she had as a mechanical being. Her vision flickered through the other light spectrums so that she could get a feel for where the others were and what exactly there was that was left.

The information that Maria got back caused her core to sink.

_This isn't good...Static's been taken out, and it looks like he might have a concussion. And the others have all been knocked out, too._

_*Keep your guard up*_ Inferno warned. _*We don't know what it is that Brainiac's up to -- or if he's unleashed what you saw in your vision already*_

"Interesting," spoke a familiar voice. "They decided to send you in after I had defeated your other allies."

Maria stiffened, and slowly turned in order to see where the voice was coming from. As soon as her eyes locked with Luthor's smirking expression, she shifted into a defensive stance while remaining on her hoverboard.

"Brainiac." Maria's eyes moved between Luthor, the tall, silver figure of Megatron, and what looked like a simple box of machinery. At first glance, some people may have thought that it was an engine of some kind, but Maria could see Brainiac's symbol on it plain as day.

The fact that the sun had disappeared made the glowing green symbol even more obvious.

_They had better not have set it off...._

"For a mechanical being, you are quite a fallible creation, aren't you?" Luthor continued. "I would have thought that you would see the foolishness in the human race and its continual need to fight against my programmed mission."

"When you've digitized everything in the universe into knowledge, what are you going to do with it?" Maria shot back. "What use is knowledge without sharing it?"

"That does not concern me," Luthor replied, still voicing Brainiac's opinion.

Maria gritted her teeth as a growl slipped out. "I'm not gonna let you destroy the world just for the sake of your little knowledge hunt. And you're not going to control me, either."

"Does that mean you're going to attempt to commit suicide like the Mini-Con you are?" Megatron sneered from above. His voice still sounded like Brainiac's was mixed in -- probably because, as a machine-based life form, Megatron's build let Brainiac come out a bit, while Luthor's organic body didn't.

"No. And you're not getting anywhere near me or my brain with your stupid tech, either. Which is why I'm going to see about destroying that machine of yours before you manage to do anything against anyone with it." Maria started to let flames course up her arms, preparing to attack Brainiac's mind-controlled minions in order to take them out.

The Reploid would have lunged forward to start the attack, but something suddenly grabbed her from behind and pulled her arms behind her back. She tried to pull against it, but the grip on her arms only tightened.

"I believe you mean, 'before you manage to do anything against anyone else'," Luthor stated coolly.

Maria's eyes widened, and she felt a chill run down her spine. "No...you didn't!" She looked back behind her, and froze when she saw that Batman was the one who was holding her back...and there was a Brainiac symbol over the top of the bat on his chest.

There came the dark, mixed laugh of Megatron's and Brainiac's. "You really are quite naive, aren't you?"

Maria turned sharply to look back at Luthor and Megatron, her expression shifting to panic and anger. "Y-you--"

She was suddenly pushed forward, cutting off anything else that she might have said. Maria started to struggle, starting to push upwards in order to try and get out of Batman's strong grip, but the mind-controlled Dark Knight pulled her down before she could move too far.

"Let go!" Maria pulled upward, fire continuing to flicker on her arms as she was pushed towards Luthor, Megatron, and Brainiac's machine. As though sensing her approach...the machine that Brainiac had created started to shift.

Maria's eyes widened when she saw the sickly green tentacles that was starting to come out of the machine. Her struggling started to get to be even more vigorous as the panic welled up inside her, causing her fire and heat to increase sharply.

_*Maria! Get some control over yourself and do somethi--gah!*_

Three green tentacles slammed into Maria's chest, head, and right arm. The instant well of _pain_ that appeared out of nowhere caused the Reploid to let out a scream of pain that bordered on a shriek.

Maria could feel Brainiac's presence in her mind instantly, digging into her programming and trying to make sure that it was as deep-set as possible...before starting to delete her personality.

Brainiac's move towards that part of Maria caused something to react. A rush of energy rose up from a portion of her programming. That caused Maria even _more_ pain, and her core temperature rose sharply as her fire went from orange and red to white and gold.

Maria, eyes clenched and teeth gritted tightly together against the pain. She suddenly broke out of Batman's grip with a loud yell: "Let...them all...GO! WHITE FLARE: 125 PERCENT!"

The explosion of fire that followed moved outward for a moment, then condensed around Luthor, Brainiac, Maria, and Megatron in a swirling firestorm that lit up the square as though it was daylight.


	41. Aftermath

Batman stumbled out of the firestorm, reaching for his head as a snarl of annoyance formed on his face while the Brainiac symbol on his chest started smoking. He looked up and frowned at the firestorm in front of him as other figures started to stir on the battlefield.

Seconds later, the fire collapsed suddenly, revealing a small number of figures who had either collapsed or were barely able to stand on their feet.

Maria let out a groan, swaying for a moment more before collapsing forwards onto the ground.

There came a growl of annoyance and pain from somewhere behind Batman. "Man, what _was_ dat? It felt like I'd been hit by Cybertron."

" _That_ was Brainiac," Batman responded, not turning to look back at the Cybertronian who was starting to get to his feet.

"Really?" Jazz removed his servo from his helm and looked around. "Man, he really did a number on us, didn't he? Did he manage to get into anybody?"

Knock Out gave a shudder, shifting the pile of rocks that happened to be resting on his chest. "I could swear that he had me!" The Con looked down at himself, only to let out a complaining whine. "And now my paint job's scratched! This is going to take _cycles_ to repair!"

"Ow! Careful!" Static rubbed his head while Gear pulled his hand back.

"Sorry. We should probably get you to a doctor for your head." Gear frowned at his friend.

"And how are we going to explain to them about this?" Static motioned to the dried blood on his mask, looking annoyed.

"Jack's mother is a nurse," Arcee stated, having sat up. "She'll be able to at least put a bandage around that."

"It's not this so much as Pops that I'm worried about," Static muttered. "He's going to kill me if I come home with this." He pointed at his head and winced as a wave of pain cascaded from his head down the rest of him.

Gear flinched. "Oh, yeah. And if he doesn't get you, Sharon definitely will."

"Sharon?" Arcee frowned.

"Big sister." Static looked a little sick. "And she's the only one who _doesn't_ know that I'm a super hero."

Gear did a double-take. "You told Daisy?!"

"Just about me! She was getting annoyed with me not being there all the time like I promised!" Static held up his hands defensively. "It's not exactly easy to plan study groups around bad guys popping up!" A frown flickered across his face a moment later. "Hey...didn't Brainiac get you guys? The last thing I remember is that machine of his going haywire and slamming into everybody."

"It seems that, while Brainiac did manage to implant a part of himself in each one of us, the connection was swiftly destroyed -- and the piece of himself with it." Optimus' gaze scanned the area as the others started to get to their feet.

"What does that mean?" Knock Out looked up from his scratched chest and glared at the Autobot leader.

"It means that someone here managed to disrupt Brainiac's connection." Optimus looked towards Megatron -- or, at least, where he knew that Megatron was -- and he paused. "It appears that we will have to thank Maria for what she has done."

There came a groan that sounded more like a growl, and Megatron started to move. To the humans, it sounded like he was beeping like a computer, but the Cybertronians present knew that he was cursing the existence of the virus.

"Lord Megatron?" Knock Out asked hesitantly, forgetting his scratches for the moment.

Megatron turned his helm, narrowing his now-red optics at those who happened to be present. "Knock Out. Soundwave. Explain this before I blast you for being traitors."

 _"Mind-controlling virus--Brainiac--had you under its spell--needed allies--to--rescue."_ Soundwave stepped forward as Megatron rose to his feet. _"Autobots--Justice League--only options."_

Megatron seemed to consider this. "And you knew to go to them? Why?"

_"Maria."_

Megatron's optics glanced down at the unconscious form of the Reploid -- who Batman was moving away from the wreckage of the machine that Brainiac had built. He didn't say anything or move to stop the Dark Knight, however, instead turning his attention back to Knock Out and Soundwave.

"Soundwave." Megatron started to walk towards the Decepticon. "Prepare a Ground Bridge to the _Nemesis."_

Soundwave didn't visibly move, but a swirling portal of green appeared in front of him. Knock Out slinked through it instantly, looking like he was grateful for an escape.

Megatron started towards the Bridge himself, then paused and looked over at Optimus. "You might want to check in that man's basement. You might find what you find there...interesting." With that, he walked through the portal and disappeared from sight, Soundwave slinking after him seconds before the Ground Bridge closed.

"We'll look into Luthor's lab," Batman stated. "You get back to your base and take care of whatever wounded you have. Take Static with you."

"Hey!" Static glared at Batman. "Are you nuts? What if Brainiac's down there?"

"I managed to finish working on that device that was in the gas station." Gear held up a small box with a lightning bolt emblazoned on it. "We should be fine, but none of our electronic devices are going to work too well for a while."

"That's fine," Batman replied. He sent a glare at Static, who ducked his head and muttered something that no one else caught. The Dark Knight then turned to look at Optimus. "It looks like Maria may have used a large amount of her energy again."

Optimus gave a slight nod. "So it would seem." He inclined his head slightly. "Ratchet, are you there?"

 _::Optimus!::_ The medic's voice was full of relief. _::Are you all right? Are you still yourself?::_

"I am, thanks to Maria's interference. However, it seems that she has used a large amount of her energy again."

There came a curse from the other side. _::I thought she had promised Matthew that she wouldn't do something like that again. All right; bring her into the medical bay, and hurry! I don't know how her Spark will react to being fed off for energy a second time!::_

A Ground Bridge appeared next to Optimus as Batman made his way over to Gear, moving across the rubble-covered square with ease. The other Justice League members who had been recovering across the battleground -- Superman, Martian Manhunter, and one of the Green Lanterns -- joined up with them as Static limped over to the Ground Bridge. Arcee transformed and drove over to the teen, letting him get on and ride through into the Autobot base.

Jazz scooped up Maria, careful not to bump her around too much. "Matt's gonna kill his sis fer dis. Figuratively, 'course."

"If Ratchet does not see it prudent to shrink his wrench," Optimus responded as he moved towards the Ground Bridge.

Jazz smirked, then did a double-take and looked at Optimus in surprise. "You really think he might do sometin' like dat?"

Optimus simply looked over at the saboteur, then walked through the Ground Bridge without another word.

Jazz smirked. "Oh, Prime. I didn' think ya had it in ya." Chuckling, he walked through the Ground Bridge, which closed seconds later.

"Did Optimus just say a joke or something?" Gear asked, staring in confusion at the place where the Ground Bridge had been.

"Sounds like it." Superman looked equally surprised, then turned and looked at Batman. "We should probably bring Luthor with us, in case he tries to do anything."

"I don't think so. There's a chance that Brainiac could try to control him again. I've already made sure that he isn't going anywhere." Batman started moving in the direction of Luthor's skyscraper. The rest of the group followed after him.

Hal Jordan paused for a moment, glancing back at the rubble-covered square and all the damage that had been done there. Then the Green Lantern shook his head and followed after the others.

"I hope this thing isn't going to be a trap," Hal commented. "Because if it is, I'm going to find that Mega-ton guy and unscrew a few bolts."

 


	42. Chapter 42

As soon as Optimus, Arcee, Static, Jazz, and Maria were back in the base, Nurse Darby and Ratchet reacted instantly.

"All right; medbay, all of you!" Ratchet pointed the Autobots down an adjoining corridor. "Maria is going to need _another_ Energon transfusion, and I'm going to need to check over every single one of you."'

Mrs. Darby dashed over to Static as he got off Arcee. "What happened to you?"

"Got hit in the head by a rock," Static responded. He winced back when Mrs. Darby reached for his head.

"You might have a concussion." Mrs. Darby frowned. "And your head definitely broke open. I can bandage it up as best as I can, but you're going to need something better than that."

"Let me guess -- a visit to the hospital." Static looked a little uneasy. "How're you going to explain how I got this?"

"We'll worry about that later -- Jack, get my bag from the car!"

"Sure, Mom!" Jack scrambled off as the Autobots disappeared.

"What happened out there?" Miko asked.

"Maria was pretty panicked when she left," Raf commented.

"Well, we got to Metropolis and found Luthor and Mega-ton," Static started while Jack brought over a chair and what looked like a medical bag. Mrs. Darby forced him to sit down and pulled off his mask as Static continued filling the others in. "It was just those two, but _man_ , did Brainiac know how to fight with them! Luthor was pulling these weird weapons out left and right and kept doing all this weird stuff to Mega-ton's blaster! I would have gotten to them if they hadn't beaned me in the head with a rock and knocked me out. Next thing I know, there's this white firestorm going on where Brainiac had decided to camp out."

Matthew let out an annoyed groan. "Maria, did you _really_ have to go all out? I thought that you promised that you wouldn't do that again."

"Do what again?" June finished tying the bandage around Static's head, then looked at Matthew.

"Use her power to the point that she nearly kills herself," Matthew replied. "She nearly did that in Luthor's basement, according to the damage that I saw when Optimus and I rescued her. It sounds like she tried to go all out again, even after she had promised me she wouldn't."

The others gained concerned frowns.

"Sheesh, Maria's a lot more powerful than she lets on," Static muttered, rubbing his bandaged head. "If she can push herself like that...."

"It doesn't mean anything if she ends up killing herself," Jack pointed out.

"The Justice League is constantly almost killing themselves. It's practically a requirement for superheroes."

"That doesn't mean that Maria should go back on her promise like that." Matthew shook his head. "She's a World Jumper who has family back home, and if she dies, then I'll end up being stuck here for the rest of my life -- without seeing my family ever again." Matthew ran a hand through his hair while he let out a sigh. "Maria ought to be more careful."

"You have to remember that she was fighting against a computer virus that could have taken her over," Raf pointed out suddenly. "She probably went all out because she didn't want to end up becoming transformed into another mind-controlled victim. You guys remember what she told us about the Protocol after we got Optimus back, right?"

"Oh, yeah!" Miko slammed a fist into an open palm. "She said that that Dr. Wily guy from the MegaMan games did something to her, and that's where the Protocol came from!"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, I remember that. She looked a little like a mini version of Optimus."

Raf nodded. "Exactly. So what if she didn't want to end up in the same situation as when she had when she'd first gotten the Protocol? According to what I've heard from you guys and the news, Brainiac could be just as bad as -- if not, worse -- then Wily was. And if Maria ended up under his control--"

"Then it might not just be your world that gets destroyed, but others across the Multiverse," Matthew finished, gaining an expression that was somewhat akin to horror and understanding.

"What do you mean?" Static frowned. "I mean, I know you're from another world and all, but --"

"Maria can make portals," Matthew interrupted. "That's how we ended up arriving here in the first place -- she _made a portal_ that led straight here. If Brainiac ever gains access to that technology, then he'll be able to travel like Maria and I did."

"I guess we're lucky that Maria didn't let him, then," Mrs. Darby commented.

"Yeah...I guess so." Matthew looked over in the direction of the medbay. "I just hope that Maria's all right."

"Hey, guys?" Smokescreen popped in and looked down at the humans. "Something's up with Maria."

Matthew's eyes widened, and he promptly took off at a run towards the medbay, the others following closely on his heels.

"Maria, you shouldn't be moving!" Ratchet was saying as Matthew and the others came into the medbay. "Considering the large amount of energy your systems just burned through--"

"Ratchet, Maria's _fine,"_ Maria responded impatiently from one of the berths. She was standing there with her arms folded across her chest and an annoyed expression on her face. "She's already adapted her body to the Energon you put in her last time, remember?"

"And the fact that you happen to be speaking in the third person isn't something that we should be worried about?" Green light flickered from one of Ratchet's arms, scanning Maria where she stood. "You might have processor damage, if that's the case."

"Maria, what happened out there?" Matthew demanded as he came to a stop near the entrance of the medbay. "You said you wouldn't push your limit like last time!"

Maria sent her brother an irritated glance, and something in that gaze made Matthew suddenly feel very wary. Her eyes were a bit different now...they almost looked like an _Autobot's_ shade of blue, in fact -- a shade that was a bit too bright for Maria.

"Maria only reacted this time," Maria said seriously. "Maria didn't do it on purpose."

Ratchet grumbled something that Matthew didn't quite catch. The medic glared down at Maria before turning to look at Optimus, who was sitting a short distance away on another berth. "It seems that my systems are picking up two life signatures from Maria."

Matthew felt his blood freeze. "Someone else...?"

"Two life signatures?" Arcee repeated sharply from where she stood near Optimus. "It's not Brainiac, is it?"

Maria rolled her now-cyan eyes and gave a noise that sounded like a computer beeping some kind of garbled language. This was followed shortly by a serious "No."

Ratchet looked at Maria in alarm. "A child of your age and species should not know those words, much less the native language they come from!"

"I'll have you know that, while Maria is only seventeen, she's used the name of a water god from another world pretty often when she's surprised."

Matthew blinked a couple times, taking in Maria's statement. She sounded like his sister, but the way she was talking didn't _sound_ like Maria.

"What did she say?" Miko asked, frowning.

"Something that I'm not going to repeat in English," Maria replied, turning her gaze on Miko. "Especially not with kids around." The Reploid scanned the room. "Maria's still recovering from Brainiac's attack, so I came out to make sure you mechs knew she was going to be out for a few more hours."

"Who are you and what are you doing in my sister's body?" Matthew demanded, clenching his fists as blue fire covered his hands. He would fight her if he had to, but only as a last resort.

"The only reason I'm here is thanks to a situation involving a member of the Thirteen and a rip in space," the person in Maria replied in an annoyed tone. "As for who I am...I've agreed to let Maria call me Inferno, but that's only my code name." A mischievous grin appeared on the Reploid's face.

"What is your real name, then?" Optimus inquired.

Maria turned to look over at the Prime and inclined her head. "My real name? I'm not exactly willing to give that just yet." The smirk that was on her face faded slightly. "Do you know a mech or a femme who was ever capable of summoning fire because of an ability gifted to their Spark?"

Matthew blinked a couple times, the words itching at his ears. "S-spark?" he repeated.

Optimus ignored him, and instead inclined his helm. "That information is not something that has reached Earth. How would you know of it, Inferno?"

"Answer my questions, and I'll answer yours."

The mech paused for a moment, then gave a nod. "Fair enough. Yes, there were a small number of mechs and femmes who were capable of unusual abilities for reasons unknown except for strange frequencies in their spark."

Inferno nodded. "Then it is the same in your universe as it is in ours. Where I come from, some Cybertronians had superpowers, as the humans call them. There was a small group in particular that formed itself from the gladiatorial arena in Kaon." A strange gleam showed up in her crystalline eyes.

"I believe I know of the group you speak of. However, they remained separate from the Decepticons and the Autobots. It is rumored that they disappeared from the planet when the rest of us were in mass exodus, but none have heard from them ever since."

Matthew blinked a couple times while Inferno frowned. Something felt wrong about what Optimus had just said, but he wasn't able to peg what exactly it was.

"Did you ever meet any of them?" the possessed Reploid asked.

"I regret to say that I did not."

"Then our homes are different. Not only did that team meet Optimus, but they also joined the Autobots." Inferno grinned in what Matthew thought was a mischievous manner. "If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have been able to meet Maria, Matthew, and their parents."

"Wait, what?" Matthew did a double-take.

Inferno raised an eyebrow. "Really? He hasn't told you yet?"

"Who now?" Miko asked, confused.

"How'd you--"

"Did you really think that I was the only one who got trapped in a human's mind by Vector Prime?" Inferno looked oddly amused.

"Wha--" Matthew suddenly looked a little nervous when everyone looked over at him. "Um...."

"Matthew, is there something that you want to tell us?" Arcee asked.

_*You may as well. She's already revealed herself*_

Matthew paused, then rubbed the back of his head. "Um... I guess you could say that I've got a voice at the back of my head, too. He said that his name was Sparkseer."

"Sparkseer?" Smokescreen cocked his helm in confusion.

"When?" Inferno sounded strangely serious.

"When Maria nearly killed herself the first time."

Inferno's expression shifted slightly, and she gave a slight nod. "I see. Joshua said that Blitzen had appeared to him when he was taken to Neo-Mobius, so I'm not exactly surprised that a traumatic event would have brought him out."

"Blitzen?" Matthew frowned in confusion.

"You mind filling us in?" Miko asked.

"I'm feeling like I'm in the dark here, too," Matthew muttered.

Inferno rolled her eyes. "Great, I'm being forced to explain all of this. Right, leave the gladiator to everything." She snorted and shook her head before looking around the room. "In our dimension, when the war started, my team and I joined with the Autobots. We were there in the council chambers when Orion was named Prime. It was during our time in Iacon that something rather unexpected happened: a group of humans suddenly appeared in Jazz's quarters. Apparently, a portal suddenly appeared in their living room and sucked the four of them to Cybertron in such a way that they were able to survive on the planet."

Matthew blinked a couple times. "Who ended up on Cybertron?"

Inferno gave a dry smirk. "You won't believe me, Matthew, but you were one of the four."

"Say what?" Matthew's jaw was close to dropping to the floor.

"Maria and your parents were the rest of them."

"Dude!" Miko turned and looked at Matthew in surprise. "Why didn't you tell us that you'd been to Cybertron?"

"Because I didn't think that something like that had actually happened?" Matthew shrugged helplessly. "Some of this does sound familiar, but it doesn't exactly ring too many bells."

"I'm not surprised. Maria doesn't remember anything either, but I think she's starting to put some things together." Inferno glanced over at Optimus. "The fact that the two of you have figured out that Cybertron exists in your dimension as well as this one is a start."

"You have mentioned other names," Optimus noted. "Blitzen and Sparkseer. Who might they be?"

"Members of my team. Blitzen is a code name -- part of a system we devised during the war. Sparkseer is a real name, though. We called him Odin."

"Odin?" Smokescreen sounded confused.

"Isn't that the name of the king of the mythical Norse gods?" Raf asked.

"He carries a spear wherever he goes, so Morgen thought it suited him well," Inferno responded dryly.

"Does that mean Inferno isn't your real name?" Jack asked.

Inferno gave a slight shrug. "No, it's not. I haven't told Maria my real name yet, because I want to see if she'll remember it. Considering that she's presently recovering from Brainiac's attack, I can't try to jog her memory anymore than I already have."

"What happened to her?" Matthew asked instantly.

"Brainiac got in here and instantly started to get rid of what made her who she was." Inferno tapped the side of her head. "When he started going after her personality, a part of her programming reared up and caused all of her power to be released in order to kick Brainiac out."

"A part of her programming kicked him out?" Ratchet asked in surprise. "How is that even possible?"

"Protocol." Inferno's expression shifted to a grim one. "Little consolation for getting taken over by Wily. At least no one else will be able to get into her head so easily."

Matthew flinched. The others exchanged glances when they heard this.

"Indeed," Optimus stated softly. "When would you say that Maria has recovered, Inferno?"

"It'll take her systems a few more hours to make sure that she hasn't suffered any more damage than what Brainiac tried. I checked on her before I came out here, and she's basically hibernating at the moment." Inferno glanced over at Ratchet, expecting the medic to say something.

"That sounds reasonable," Ratchet said, nodding. "But perhaps that would mean that you should not be attempting to use her body anymore than you already are."

Matthew nodded in agreement, frowning slightly. There was a tickling sensation at the back of his mind, as though there was something there that his mind was trying to tell him.

"I'm not worried. It's not like I'm waiting for a battle in Kaon's gladiator pits." Inferno shrugged. "I'm just here to talk."

"How did you get in there, anyway?" Smokescreen brought himself close to the Reploid and looked at her curiously.

"Vector Prime." Inferno gained an annoyed expression. "He decided to move us to a safer location -- apparently because it would be better than us dying in Kaon's Prison getting Sentinel Prime out."

"Who now?" Miko asked in confusion.

"Prime before Optimus." Inferno made a lazy waving motion that clearly said she wasn't going to add more to that. "Point is, he said he'd gotten us places to hide among the humans. He didn't say that we'd be sharing human bodies with Maria, Matthew, and three other humans. Joshua, one of the neighboring humans, has Blitzen. I have yet to find the other two."

"Well, maybe I can help," Matthew spoke up. "Sparkseer and I have been working on my Aura Sight. We might be able to find their aura mixed into the humans."

Inferno considered this for a moment, then gave a slight nod. "Sounds good to me. You'll have to test that on Joshua and Blitzen when we head back. If we can head back without worrying about anything else popping up, that is."

"Anything else?" Arcee didn't really like the sound of that.

"Depends on what Luthor tries. Or Megatron. Maria's visions aren't picky either way." Inferno shrugged. "Personally, I'd like to head home and check in on _my_ version of the Cybertronians."

"Mom and Dad are going to pretty much kill you for hiding in my sister without telling them, you know," Matthew commented.

"Meh. I'm not so afraid of them."

"Even after being in Maria's head for, what....eleven, twelve years?"

Inferno paused at the question. "So you've managed to figure out how long it's been. That's good. Maybe you can remember what happened while you were in the Iacon Hall of Records next." Inferno sat down on the berth, folding her legs and looking around at the group. "Any more questions? If not, then I'll just go back into Maria's head and make sure that she's still doing all right."

The others exchanged glances at this.

"It would most likely be best that you assist Maria," Ratchet said. "Considering that you are presently within her body."

Inferno gave a slight nod in response. "All right. If you want any questions answered, Matthew can probably relay Sparkseer's answers." She lay down on her back and put her hands behind her head, adding, "And Seer? I suggest you be careful what you tell them. Yes, we don't know anything about where our team is now, but I don't want them getting any ideas about hunting our counterparts down."

 _*Tell her that I highly doubt that's going to be a problem*_ Sparkseer commented in reply.

Matthew quickly relayed Sparkseer's statement, getting a snort from Inferno.

"Still, be careful." With that, Inferno shut her eyes as her body stilled.

This left Matthew getting the brunt of the stares of everyone in the room. He swallowed somewhat nervously.

"Now that Inferno's out, think you can tell us what her real name is?" Static asked, looking at Matthew curiously.

Sparkseer murmured something at the back of Matthew's mind, and the teenager stiffened.

"That sounded really familiar, Seer," Matthew spoke aloud.

"What?" Miko asked. "What's her real name?"

"Seer said that her real name is--"

**Spacial Break**

Inferno materialized within Maria's mind and walked around as the data materialized into what looked like a shrunk-down version of the Autobot's medbay -- shrunk-down enough that Maria fit the berth like she was naturally the size of a Cybertronian. The machines that happened to be hooked up to the Reploid's head showed a progress bar that was almost full.

"We're lucky that he didn't do anymore damage than he did," Inferno commented. She glanced down at herself, making sure that she was in her Cybertronian form before looking around the room. "Maybe this'll help restore her memory some...."


	43. Chapter 43

By the time the question-and-answer session was done, Matthew felt like he had something of a headache. Sparkseer had given answers that went anywhere from why he was called Odin (he carried a spear around that kept his powers from overloading his systems) to what exactly it was that Sparkseer and the others had done before joining up with Optimus and the others.

The fact that Shape-Change didn't even seem to have a past before joining up with the gladiator really frustrated Miko the most, but Matthew was most frustrated by the fact that a good amount of this information felt familiar, but didn't quite sound familiar.

Until, that is, they had asked about the reason behind the code names for Sparkseer, Inferno, Blitzen, and everyone else. That gave Matthew his headache, and Sparkseer actually didn't answer.

"Mom, Dad, Maria, and I actually ended up helping with that," Matthew said, rubbing his head in order to try and dispel his headache. "Since the Cons didn't know a thing about English and the Bots did, Dad said to use it as a secret code. And then we made up code names for everything. I, uh...I think Megatron's nickname of 'Buckethead' came from me and Maria."

Miko snickered. "Really? What do you call other Cons?"

"Um...Starscream was Screamer, Knock Out's Narcissus, Soundwave was...Seer? You mind giving me a hand?"

_*Slendermech*_

Matthew gave a slight nod. "Yeah. Slendermech."

"Like Slenderman?" Raf blinked in surprise. "You guys had something like that twelve years ago?"

"Not that I can remember. Mom and Dad never did explain to us how they came up with that name." Matthew started to feel his headache increase. "Hey, guys, I'm starting to not feel so good. You mind if I cut this off?"

"It might be wise if we take the time to rest and recover," Optimus said. "June, you should be safe in returning to your home. I doubt that Brainiac will attempt to go after any of us after Maria's own attack."

"I concur with that," Ratchet stated, looking around the medbay at the humans and Autobots. "And I will make sure that you will not leave your berths unless I have to, which means that the rest of you should get out of here before I decide to do the same to you."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker exchanged glances before looking back at Ratchet. The twins then disappeared out the door, Smokescreen right on their heels. Bulkhead and Bumblebee followed after them, and the humans started to file out of the room.

Static moved up next to Matthew as they walked out of the medbay. "Hey -- you feelin' okay?"

"I've just got a minor headache. I think I'll be fine if I just sleep it off or something."

"I can drop you and Jack off at the house," Mrs. Darby spoke up suddenly. "And then I'm going to see about taking Static to the hospital to have his head looked at."

"Hey!" Static turned sharply to look at the nurse. "I'm still in costume! There's no way that I'm going to go in a hospital looking like this!"

"Do you have anything else in mind?" Mrs. Darby raised an eyebrow at Static's protest. "Because your head definitely needs to be looked over, or else you could end up suffering from brain damage without anyone knowing about it."

Static opened his mouth to protest, paused at the statement, and was reduced to sending an annoyed glare in Mrs. Darby's direction.

"We'll probably have to call your parents, too," Mrs. Darby continued, "to make sure they know what happened to you."

"It's just my pops and my sister," Static corrected.

When Static didn't offer anything else of an explanation, Mrs. Darby gave a slight nod. "All right. We have a phone back at the house that you can use."

"Thanks...I guess."

**Time Break**

As soon as Matthew returned to the Darby residence, he collapsed on the couch while Jack went upstairs. Neither one of the two said a word -- most likely because they were trying to think over everything that had just come up over the course of the evening. Just the mere idea that a Cybertronian could share a body with a human was one thing -- the fact that there were _two_ of them in the same room was a little ridiculous.

And yet...considering that Sparkseer had said that Vector Prime -- a member of the _first Thirteen Cybertronians --_ was capable of controlling time and space...was it really that ridiculous?

Honestly, Matthew didn't really want to think about it, what with his headache and his worry over his sister.

Matthew shut his eyes and tried to force himself to sleep, but the headache wasn't helping him all that much. If anything, it was distracting him from being able to actually get to sleep.

He rubbed at his temples, wondering if he should try to find any aspirin that could be in the house. He decided against it a moment later, however, thinking that Mrs. Darby and Jack would probably not like him digging through their things without permission.

"Sparkseer?" Matthew asked quietly. "A little help?"

The Cybertronian at the back of his mind didn't answer for a moment. _*I believe that it is possible that you have memories that are trying to surface at once. I'm afraid that I cannot do anything to cause you to fall asleep to solve that problem, however*_

Matthew let out a groan in response and shifted his position on the couch. "Lot of good that does us...." He blinked a couple times before sighing out of his nose and shutting his eyes tightly, starting to force himself to fall asleep.

It seemed to take almost forever before the headache seemed to fade...but something else started to get Matthew's attention.

**Dream Break**

Matthew looked around in surprise at the room that he suddenly found himself in. "What in the world?"

There came a chuckle, and the room's light's suddenly flickered on, revealing what looked like rows upon rows of giant-sized desks with holographic screens...and one particularly large figure with a blue color scheme and a large, golden spear.

"Welcome, Matthew, to the Hall of Records." The large figure motioned to the room that they were standing in. "Perhaps here, we would be able to discern the meaning behind your forgetting your time on Cybertron."

"Whoa...." Matthew turned around, looking at the room with an expression of surprise. He returned his gaze to the large, blue figure in front of him. "Then that means that you're what you really look like?"

"Indeed." The large figure placed a hand on the desk that Matthew happened to be standing on. "How about we do a little exploring, then?"

"Sounds good to me." Matthew stepped onto the larger figure's hand and used one of the fingers in order to keep his balance as the hand was raised and the figure started to walk along the desks. "Anything to get rid of that headache."

There came a chuckle. "Agreed. I believe that this may be one such place that will help."

"How?"

"This place is located within some of your earliest memories of being here -- in fact, I believe that you spent most of your time here after a particular friend of mine found you out."

Matthew looked around as they continued to move, frowning out of curiosity at what his larger friend had just said. "Really? It doesn't feel like it's ringing any bells yet."

The larger figure hummed. "I believe that may change soon. There are figures here whom we will soon see."

"Oh?"

"Indeed."

As Matthew and his friend reached the end of the room, another group of figures suddenly came into existence. It took Matthew a moment to figure out who some of them were -- if only because they looked so different from how he knew them.

"Is that really how you guys looked while you were on Cybertron?"

"Our vehicular forms were meant for Cybertron's surface. As such, I suppose that we would appear a little more...alien, in your eyes."

Matthew gave a slight nod, then sat down on his friend's hand. This was going to be an interesting experience, and he wasn't planning on staying standing through the entire thing. "Is this when we meet him?"

There came a chuckle. "How about we move closer in order to find that out?"

**Dream Break/Spacial Break**

Inferno shook her head at Maria's unconscious form and moved away from the unconscious Reploid. Maria's programs had finished repairing the damage that had been caused by Brainiac, but it was going to be some time before Maria's personality program was going to fully reboot. An hour or so at the very least, and then a few more hours after that for the rest of her to follow.

Inferno couldn't help but wonder if there was a particular reason behind the fact that Maria's systems had chosen to have her recover in a Cybertronian medical bay, considering that the only times she had been in here were when it was--

Inferno heard something suddenly move behind her, letting out a gasp as though someone hadn't been getting their oxygen. Inferno didn't move for a moment.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Inferno commented dryly. She turned and looked over at Maria, who was sitting upright on the berth with a hand at her chest, looking around wildly. "Well, almost."

Maria's head snapped around, and as soon as she locked her eyes with Inferno's optics, she looked at the Cybertronian in surprise and shock. "What the -- Inferno? Why are you my size?"

"Don't know, don't care." Inferno walked over to Maria and looked at the Reploid with her usual serious expression. "I'd be more worried about yourself at the moment, if I were you."

Maria blinked a couple times when she heard that, and she gained a worried frown. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that Brainiac nearly had you for a moment there."

Maria stiffened instantly. "He _what?_ " She looked at Inferno out of shock before frowning. "But...the last thing I clearly remember is Brainiac using Batman to drag me towards that machine of his...." She returned her gaze to Inferno, questioning and fearful. "I'm not under his control now, am I?"

"No, thank Primus."

Maria let out a sigh of relief.

"But you nearly killed yourself getting him out."

Maria stiffened up in surprise. "What? But--"

Inferno gained an irritated expression as she interrupted Maria. "The Protocol didn't take too kindly to you having your personality programming even so much as looked at. When Brainiac started to delete it, well...." Inferno motioned to Maria, as though that was proof enough.

Maria started to reach for her chest again, looking pale. "He was going to get rid of me?"

"And you reacted." Inferno gave a half-shrug. "Everyone's pretty much back to normal now. I wouldn't be worried too much about Optimus and the others."

"Meaning Megatron's free too, right?"

When Inferno nodded, Maria actually gave a sigh of relief. "That's good. No one deserves to die under that thing's control."

"Glad you see it that way." Inferno folded her arms across her chest. "We're going to have to talk about a few things before you fully boot up, though."

Maria frowned at Inferno's comment. "What do you mean?"

"Your memories from Cybertron. I know your systems are starting to recover bits and pieces of them."

"It's just names that pop up at random." Maria started to move off the berth, then winced and reached for her legs. "Okay, better not shift around too much yet...."

"Bits and pieces. You should probably speed that up and get the rest of them back."

Maria frowned at that. "Why?"

"Because we happen to have people back in our home dimension who might just happen to need our help. They don't have the Justice League like this world does."

Maria blinked a couple times, considering the statement. A moment later, she gained something of a concerned expression and gave a slight nod. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that -- I probably wouldn't know anything about the DC and Marvel heroes otherwise. But...I haven't gotten any kind of visions that have said anything about there being something wrong back at home...."

"Have you gotten anything more about this world? Because I don't want to stay here for much longer than we already have."

Maria frowned at the impatient tone in Inferno's voice. "I only just clobbered Brainiac. Do you expect me to get another vision as soon as something this big is done?"

"I don't know; I'm not the one who's been getting them."

Maria's frown deepened. "Well, I want to be able to spend a day here just to make sure that Brainiac isn't going to try to cause anymore trouble than he already has."

Inferno considered this for a moment. Yes, Maria was going to need to be able to recover from Brainiac's attack -- and while Maria's programming had managed to recover, Maria herself might want to be able to relax and spend time with her brother and others in the area before leaving. That's basically what she had done before on other worlds....

"Fine. One day." Inferno gave a slight nod. "But you're going to have to do some memory recovery tonight before you can figure out what else it is that's going on. Our world is ahead of this one, and I don't want your parents or anyone else to worry about us while something bad could be happening back where we belong."

Maria's eyebrows scrunched together. "Are you saying that you think something bad's going to happen back home?"

"Considering that Megatron is on Earth? Anything bad could end up happening. Besides, Optimus and the others deserve to know that we're still out there -- even if my team is trapped in the minds of humans."

Maria looked away from Inferno for a moment, considering this. Inferno just stood there with her arms folded across her chest, one optic ridge raised in an expectant expression.

"...how did you get into my head, anyway?" Maria finally asked, looking back at Inferno. "Since you weren't in it before, I mean."

"One of the Thirteen, Vector Prime, manipulated time and space. I've been waiting for him to say something about how I'm going to get out, but I haven't heard anything from the old guy. And it's getting a little annoying." Inferno eyed the ceiling of the medbay, wondering if Vector Prime was hearing her. The only time that she had actually "heard" from him was when she had first appeared in Maria's mind.

Maria frowned in an annoyed manner at that. "Thirteen...you mean one of the first Cybertronians in existence trapped you in my head? Wouldn't he have been a little smarter than that and just transported you through time instead?"

**_"While that is a good observation, did you take into consideration the fact that you would not have been able to obtain the guidance you have received, Maria?"_ **

Inferno stiffened while Maria jumped in surprise upon hearing the voice. A portal materialized between them, and a gold and purple figure stepped out, wings acting like a cape behind him.

"Vector Prime," Inferno greeted somewhat stiffly. "What are you doing here?"

"I had thought that it might be wise of me to inform you that there is a way to remove yourself from Maria's mind without causing any sort of mental damage, considering her present situation." Vector turned and looked at Maria, giving her a slight nod in greeting. "I suppose she has been treating you well?"

Maria blinked a couple times before managing to shake herself out of her shock. She gave a slightly nervous nod in response to Vector's question. "Y-yeah, I guess so. I mean, she's helped me out with some things. But it's kind of hard to say, since I don't exactly remember when she says we first met...."

"I can tell Katie and Morgen remember just fine, considering the funny looks I remember them giving Maria after they arrived back on Earth," Inferno commented. "She hasn't even remembered my real name yet."

"Perhaps she would be able to remember if you told her what your real name is," Vector Prime suggested. "I believe that may be the catalyst you may be looking for."

"Huh? Catalyst?" Maria blinked a couple times out of confusion. "You mean that you think Inferno's real name is going to restore my memories?"

"It's highly possible, considering that she _is_ the one who's presently residing in your mind. Speaking of which, I was surprised to discover that your mind had been altered." Vector Prime made a motion with one servo, causing the area to transform into what appeared to be a bright green grid.

"Whoa!" The berth Maria had been sitting on digitized underneath her, leaving her hovering in the air a couple inches off the grid. "Wh-what is--"

"It seems you're a mechanical being now," Vector Prime continued. "Are you aware of this?"

Inferno snorted, seemingly amused.

Maria nodded. "Yeah, I know about it. I had an accident some time ago, so I was transferred to this form so that I'd be able to survive the damage I had taken. Afterwards, I...." Maria hesitated.

As though the green grid sensed what it was that Maria was thinking about, the entire area suddenly shifted to a dark and gritty room that looked like a scientist's version of a pig sty, with skulls plastered onto the walls, a broken capsule of some kind...and a computer running a stream of data that Maria wasn't able to read.

Vector Prime took one look at the computer screen and winced. "I may not be as good at reading programming codes as some of my brethren, but what I can understand leaves me wondering how it is that you are still yourself."

"My rescuer reversed it, so I won't have to worry about it popping up again," Maria said quickly. "The man who did this to me didn't know about Inferno, so I don't know if she was affected."

"All that happened was that I was locked into the back of your head with all of the important memories and personality data that had managed to get away from that virus," Inferno responded. "Watching what was being done to you felt like watching a close friend get hit with Dark Energon."

Vector Prime shot Inferno a look, but then returned his gaze to Maria. "I presume that you are aware of the other abilities that your new form has to offer, then?"

Maria nodded as the dark lab faded away, being replaced by a bright one that was in pristine condition. "I got a thorough explanation on that. Don't worry about it."

"Very well then; I won't." Vector Prime's expression shifted slightly, almost as though he was about to give an amused smile, but that soon disappeared into a more serious expression as he looked back at Inferno. "I am going to travel to where your other friends happen to be, to inform them of what is to come. Sparkseer, however, I am going to leave well enough alone."

"Who?" Maria asked in confusion. A slight frown crossed her face. "That name kinda sounds familiar...."

Inferno's optics narrowed. "And I guess we'll have to gather together if we're going to be able to figure out how to get out, then?"

"Indeed. It will not be too difficult, however." Vector Prime gave a nod to them both before drawing his sword and cutting the air, creating a rip in space. "I bid the both of you farewell. Perhaps we will be able to meet under equally calm circumstances in the future."

With that, Vector Prime stepped through the rip, which sealed itself shut behind him.

Inferno and Maria looked at each other; the Reploid folded her arms across her chest as she raised an eyebrow.

"Well? He said that you should tell me your real name, right?" Maria pestered her Cybertronian friend.

Inferno rolled her optics. "Yeah, yeah. I'll tell you. Since I've been around for eleven years and you still haven't managed to figure it out, I guess I have to."

There was a pause for a moment; Inferno took the time to eye Maria for a moment before telling the Reploid two words.

"I'm Wildfire."


	44. Chapter 44

When Maria woke up in the medbay, it took a minute for all of her systems to fully "wake up" -- most likely because of how long she had been out. First came her hearing and sight, then everything else followed in slow, gradual succession.

The resulting groan as all the information from the night before kicked in was the only thing that signaled to Ratchet that Maria was back in the land of the living.

"Take it slowly," Ratchet stated, coming over instantly and scanning the Reploid as she rubbed her head in order to attempt to dispel her headache. "You've been in stasis for fourteen hours."

Maria scowled a bit as the headache started to abate, the information from the night before managing to fit itself into the proper location in her mind. "Then it's...about mid-morning, right?"

"Indeed."

"Where are the others?" Maria lowered her hand as she looked around the empty room.

"Either worrying about you or wondering what the Decepticons are going to do now that Brainiac is no longer an issue," Ratchet responded gruffly.

Maria gained a surprised expression, but that quickly shifted to a cautious one while Wildfire seemed to stiffen at the back of her mind. "What do you mean, Ratchet?"

"The Justice League decided to contact us at two in the morning." Ratchet grumbled something under his breath about them interrupting their sleep cycle before continuing, "Apparently, Brainiac had a backup system waiting for him in Lex Luthor's laboratory -- designed to look at least somewhat human. It seems that something had latched onto his coding, however, and that prevented him from taking control of them when Gear's EMP emitter malfunctioned for a moment."

"What?!" Maria jumped to her feet in surprise, headache forgotten. "How is that possible? I mean, I get that Brainiac might have a backup of something _somewhere_ , but I didn't think that his mind-control functions wouldn't be working anymore -- that's part of what makes him so dangerous!" The Reploid started to pace on the berth, looking worried and lost in thought. "How in the world could something like this happen?"

 _*I think it's got something to do with that little "add-on" you got from a certain mad scientist*_ Wildfire commented. _*Remember what I said about your Protocol reacting when Brainiac tried to remove your personality? It might have done something to him -- added a failsafe to prevent him from doing that sort of thing again or something*_

Maria paused in her pacing, frowning when she heard the Cybertronian's statement. "Maybe...."

"Maybe what?" Ratchet prompted.

"You remember when I explained about the Protocol thing, right?" Maria asked, looking up at the Autobot. When he nodded, she continued, "When I fought Brainiac, it fought back against him when he tried to delete who I was. Maybe it added something to him so that he wouldn't be able to do something like that again."

Ratchet blinked a couple times, seeming to process this. "I suppose that it could be possible, but wouldn't something like that have to be done by the consent of the user of that particular program?"

Maria's frown deepened. "Maybe. I guess when Brainiac got in my head, I kinda just...reacted. I didn't want to be controlled, and I didn't want Brainiac to be able to control anyone else, either. I guess...I guess my systems just reacted to that."

_*Sounds about right*_

"Would you even believe that such a thing is possible?" Ratchet asked, raising an optic ridge.

"Well, considering that it's really the only explanation that I can think of right now...." Maria shrugged helplessly. "Unless you have any ideas."

Ratchet paused, considering Maria's statement. However, he simply narrowed his optics and said nothing. At least, nothing concerning the statement that Maria had thrown at him.

"Your brother will be arriving here soon," Ratchet stated. "I doubt that he will be waiting for long, considering that he has been working on his own abilities."

As though the red and white Autobot had spoken the magic words, there came the sounds of shoes slamming against the floor as the humans on-base suddenly came running into the room, Matthew at the head of the pack.

"Maria!" Matthew's voice was clearly full of relief.

"Hey, Matt," Maria replied from the berth, smirking. She was about to jump down, but Ratchet put a servo in front of her in order to keep her from going too far.

"I am not about to have you pushing yourself so soon after awakening," Ratchet warned.

Maria sighed, then nodded and walked onto Ratchet's servo. The medic lowered his servo to the floor then, allowing Maria to walk onto the ground...where Matthew promptly grabbed her in a hug.

"H-hey, I don't remember you ever being this clingy," Maria commented, surprised by her older brother's sudden show of affection.

"Well, considering that you nearly killed yourself again, I've got a reason for it." Matthew chuckled and pulled back from his sister, his expression shifting to a more serious one. "You really worried me, though."

"Yeah." Maria rubbed the back of her head, looking a little embarrassed at that. "It was just a reaction, though. I'm not about to control the ones that manage to save my life and apparently stop Brainiac from getting into anybody else's heads."

"Say what now?" Miko asked in confusion, frowning at Maria.

"What are you talking about, Maria?" Raf asked.

"My Protocol apparently decided to mess with Brainiac's coding and made sure that his more viral capabilities aren't going to be able to work anymore. Apparently." Maria shrugged.

Matthew blinked a couple times. "Uh...that sounds quite unbelievable."

"Can you come up with anything else that makes sense?" Maria asked, shrugging again.

Matthew paused at that, then asked, "Maybe something went wrong in the transfer to his backup body?"

"He's a computer program." Maria gained a deadpan expression. "He probably made sure that there weren't any mistakes, and even if there were mistakes, they would probably be taken care of later."

"Although, considering that the Justice League have him under lockdown and constant surveillance, that's probably not going to happen," Jack commented. "At least, that's what Arcee said when she came to pick us up this morning."

"And he's now behind bars!" Miko threw a fist into the air, grinning in triumph. "And Megatron's gonna owe ya big time!"

"I-I highly doubt that he's ever going to repay that," Maria commented sheepishly. "What do you think, Matt? What's Buckethead going to do now?"

Matthew blinked a couple times at the question. "He's probably either recovering from Brainiac's possession or trying to get Soundwave to explain things about what happened and maybe get back on the relic-hunting trail."

Maria cocked her head to one side for a moment, considering that.

_*Sounds about right. He probably won't be waiting around for long, though*_

Maria repeated what Wildfire had said, then added, "Probably a week, max."

Matthew raised an eyebrow. "Strange. I was thinking the same thing." He gained an amused expression. "Any reason why we happen to be on the same wavelength?"

"Ah, uh..." Maria chuckled nervously before looking at the others in the area. "I'm guessing that you probably already know, Matt."'

"He's not the only one!" Miko piped up. That got Maria to look at her in surprise.

"The Cybertronian in you came out last night and talked to us," Raf explained, seeing Maria's expression. "She explained to us what had happened, and the one in Matthew's head answered some of our questions, too."

Matthew chuckled and rubbed the back of his head while Maria blinked. A frown crossed the Reploid's face a moment later.

"Wait...are you saying that _Wildfire_ managed to take over my body and talked to you guys?" Maria frowned before looking up at the ceiling. "Seriously? Why didn't you tell me?"

_*I didn't need to at the time. You were getting your memories back, remember?*_

Maria growled something and facepalmed while the others looked at her in confusion.

"Wildfire? I thought you only knew that her name was Inferno." Miko blinked in confusion.

"That was a code name," Matthew reminded her. He looked at Maria. "I'm guessing that you managed to remember everything?"

"Yeah. You?" Maria smirked at her brother.

"Sparkseer helped me sort through things last night." Matthew tapped the side of his head. "He's worried about what's happening back at home, especially considering that we haven't found the other three who are supposed to be trapped in others minds."

Maria gave a slight nod in agreement. "Yeah. Wildfire's worried, too."

"This means you guys are leaving, doesn't it?" Raf asked, frowning.

Miko let out a whining noise. "Why? You guys awesome!"

"We've got Cybertronians back at home, too -- not to mention Mom and Dad," Maria commented. "They're going to start to wonder where it is that we've gone and if they need to send my sister after the two of us."

Matthew chuckled at the thought. "Yeah, that sounds like something Mom and Dad might do if we were gone for too long." He gained a more sober expression. "Especially since we don't know how long we've technically been gone."

"You guys have been here for practically half a year," Jack commented. "Wouldn't that mean that they would have sent someone after you a while back?"

"We've found that time tends to fluctuate between worlds," Maria responded. "For instance, a day back at home is a year journeying around with Pokemon -- at least, before Cyrus decided to go and mess everything up." The Reploid scowled when she remembered what her siblings and neighbors had told her about what had happened.

Miko scowled and folded her arms across her chest. "Can't you stay for a while longer, then? I mean, what if the Cons partner up with one of the bad guys again?"

"After what happened with Brainiac?" Ratchet responded. "I find it highly unlikely that Megatron will attempt a partnership of any sort."

Maria nodded in agreement, shuddering slightly at her own memories of confronting the computer virus. "Yeah..." She looked at the others. "How are Optimus and the others doing?"

Miko simply gained a wide grin, then grabbed Maria's wrist. "Come on -- they wanted to see you as soon as you got up!"

Maria smiled slightly and chuckled. "All right. Lead the way!"

Maria let Miko drag her out to the medbay and over to the main area of the base. There, a good number of the Autobots were standing or sitting around, a mix of bored, calm, and impatient expressions on their faces. When the group of small figures returned -- Ratchet following after them -- the Autobots turned their attention to the figures coming in.

"Hi, guys," Maria greeted, waving.

"Heya, lil' bot," Jazz greeted, smirking. "You feelin' better?"

"Yeah. I've still got a minor headache from all the memory recovery Wildfire put me through, but I'm not too worried about that right now."

The name got the others' attention, and the Autobots exchanged glances before looking back at Maria.

"Did you just say Wildfire?" Bulkhead repeated. "The firestorm of the gladiator rings? _She's_ in your head?"

"Yeah." Maria blinked a couple times. "Wait...I don't ever remember her using her fire powers...does that mean she had abilities like mine?"

_*Yes it does. Hmph. Sounds like my counterpart was a little more 'free' with her fire abilities than I ever was*_

That is highly likely," Optimus stated. "However, it is also possible that there are differences."

"You haven't had any visions of anything that we should worry about, have you?" Arcee asked suddenly.

Maria shook her head. "I haven't. I kinda spent last night recovering some lost memories, but nothing besides that ended up popping up."

_*Everything checked out with what I can remember*_

"So, what's that supposed to mean?" Bulkhead asked, cocking his helm to one side out of confusion.

"It means that you guys shouldn't have any big problems for a while, and Matt and I can go home." Maria looked over at her older brother, who nodded in agreement.

"Do you guys really have to go?" Smokescreen asked, sounding disappointed.

"Dey're not from aroun' here, kiddo," Jazz spoke up. " 'Sides, they've got their own family to think about, right?"

"Exactly." Matthew nodded.

The Autobots exchanged glances.

"I suppose this means that this is good-bye, then?" Arcee asked.

Maria nodded in response. "Yeah. We've gotta head back."

"Maybe you should go tell the Justice League that you're going, too," Raf suggested. "I mean, Static and Gear might want to know that you're all right, at least."

Miko's expression brightened. "Yeah! You can't leave unless they come here or something!"

"I can contact them," Maria said, raising her left arm in an almost casual manner. "I've worked on my communication systems a few times when I wasn't running around, so it should be easy enough to find Gear, at least. Unless you want to Ground Bridge us to Dakota before we head out."

Ratchet snorted. "They are not in Dakota. June insisted that Static remain in the local hospital for a few days. His family and his friend are in the town, as well."

That got Maria's and the others' attention.

Miko let out a squeal. "Really? We get to meet Static's family?"

"What makes you think that you are going to meet them?" Arcee responded, frowning at the girl.

"Well--"

"You're not the one who happens to be leaving, and you haven't worked side-by-side with Static out there against a super villain, either," Matthew stated. "Technically, I haven't, either, but Maria and I are going to be heading out. You're probably going to run into him a couple times in the future." He looked up at the Autobots. "So, is Maria going to fly us out to Jasper? Or are we going to get a Ground Bridge or a ride instead?"

"Smokescreen." Optimus looked over at the younger Autobot. "Take Maria and Matthew to the Jasper hospital."

"S-sure!" Smokescreen shifted down to his alt form, popping open the passenger side door. "Hop in, you guys."

"Thanks, Smoke." Maria bounded over to the Autobot, Matthew following behind her at a more eased pace. The two of them turned and looked back at the humans and Autobots present, slight smiles coming across their faces.

"It was great that we were able to work with you guys," Maria said, nodding to the group in front of them. She smiled up at Optimus. "I hope that you manage to end the war soon. And that you can get all the relics before Megatron does."

"We may be able to get ahead of him now, as Megatron has retreated for now." Optimus gave a slight nod. "I also wish you luck in your own endeavors."

"Thanks." Maria gave a soft smile as Matthew disappeared into Smokescreen's interior. Then she followed her brother, sitting on Smokescreen's passenger's side while Matthew claimed the driver's seat.

"All right. Here we go." Smokescreen started forward, leaving the base as he started to pick up speed. "So, what are you guys going to do when you get home?"

"Fill Mom and Dad in on what happened and what we can remember now, for one," Matthew started, keeping his hands off the steering wheel.

"And then we should probably try and find our world's version of you guys and let them know where Wildfire and the others are," Maria added. "From what I can remember, they were extremely big helps back in Iacon before we left. And we still have to find two of them."

"Two?" Matthew looked at Maria in confusion.

"Yeah. Joshua has someone named 'Blitzen' at the back of his head; as far as I know, Jolt hasn't revealed his real name to Joshua yet."

"Jolt...yeah, I remember him." Matthew frowned. "Think that Khrista might have someone in her head, then?"

"Maybe?" Maria shrugged. "We're going to have to ask her when we get back." The Reploid paused. "If she's gotten back from wherever it was that she disappeared to before we came here."

"Who are Joshua and Khrista?" Smokescreen asked in confusion.

"They're our neighbors," Matthew explained. "Khrista is a World Jumper like us, and Joshua is her cousin. He actually ended up transformed into a Reploid like Maria at one point."

"Really?"

"Yup!" Maria gave a half-smile. "Because of that, Joshua has gotten the both of us to test our limitations as mechanical beings a bit. Although, I think he's looked more into his mechanical functions that I have. Mostly, I've taken advantage of his virtual reality invention to plug my head into cyberspace for an hour or two to train in a virtual reality simulator. That's pretty fun."

Matthew gave his sister a weird look. "Joshua has what?"

"Joshua started coming up with technology after he and Khrista and he came back from their first World Jump," Maria explained. "The virtual reality thing is the only thing so far that he's said is complete, so I don't know what else it is that he's working on -- or where he's working on them, for that matter."

 _*He's probably got a lab hidden somewhere*_ Wildfire commented. _*He and Jolt must be keeping it well hidden*_

"Wow. You guys must have a lot of fun with that World Jumping thing," Smokescreen remarked. "Oh, hey -- looks like we're here."

Smokescreen rolled to a stop as Maria and Matthew looked out the windows. Sure enough -- they had arrived in Jasper while they had been talking, and it looked like there was a small group in front of the hospital.

"Is that Bruce Wayne?" Matthew asked, blinking a couple times when he saw the tall figure standing in the front of the hospital with Richie Foley in his civilian clothes and two African Americans -- the man was clearly an adult, while the woman looked like she was just leaving the teenage years.

"Looks like it." Maria activated her Light Refractor, bringing up her civilian clothes. "Come on -- let's go see what's going on."

Smokescreen popped his doors open, and Maria and Matthew stepped out of his alt mode before walking over to the group.

"Hi!" Maria waved in greeting, smiling slightly as she and her brother walked over to the group. "What are you guys doing out here?"

"Waiting for my son," the African American man replied, looking down at Maria. "And you?"

"I came here so that I could let him know I was leaving," Maria responded. She held out a hand. "I'm Maria, one of Virgil's, ah...more unusual friends."

"And I'm her brother, Matthew," Matthew added, holding out his own hand.

"Robert Hawkins," the man stated, shaking both of the extended hands.

"And I'm Sharon, Virgil's sister," the woman added, shaking Maria's and Matthew's hands herself. She gained a suspicious expression moments later. "And what did you mean by Virgil's more unusual friends?"

Maria shrugged. "He'll tell you when he feels like it." She smirked. "But if you ever find a recording of the Autobots revealing themselves to the world, well...you'll probably be able to find me." She winked, causing Sharon to scowl.

Richie looked a little nervous. "Maria, don't test her. Please." He held his hands of defensively when Sharon turned a harsh glare in his direction.

Maria's smirk broadened into a half-smile. "Don't worry about it, Richie. I can hold my own, remember?"'

"Well, yeah, but--"

"What do you mean, hold your own?" Sharon demanded.

"So, you've been living with the Autobots, I take it?" Bruce Wayne asked, looking over at Matthew with a somewhat interested expression.

"Yes, sir," Matthew responded respectfully. "I've been in the area since Maria and I arrived here, but we've got to go back home. We thought it might be a good idea to tell at least someone we knew outside of the base so that no one would worry that we had been kidnapped or something like that."

"I suppose you were thinking of informing Virgil and Richie, then?" Bruce nodded back to the hospital, which Virgil still hadn't emerged from.

"We knew that they would be able to get the news to everyone else we had come into contact with," Matthew responded. "It was kind of a surprise to see that you were here, too, sir."

"Well, when I heard that Virgil was here and was recovering from a head injury, I had to make sure that he was all right," Bruce Wayne replied calmly.

There came a noise from somewhere near the two of them, and they turned to see Sharon shaking a hand out and glaring at Maria, who had a sheepish expression on her face.

"Hey, don't look at me like that," Maria said helplessly. "I can't help my physical defenses."

Sharon scowled while Matthew sighed and shook his head.

"Maria, you shouldn't have pushed her that far," Matthew stated.

Maria shrugged at her brother, but the expression on her face clearly said that she was amused.

Mr. Hawkins raised an eyebrow at Maria with an expression that clearly said he was looking for an explanation.

"Pops! What are you doing here?"

The group turned and caught sight of Virgil walking down the hospital steps wearing clothes that definitely looked like they had been borrowed from Jack Darby. Mrs. Darby was standing next to him, holding a blue bag -- maybe where the Static costume was being hidden?

"I came to check on my son," Mr. Hawkins responded, sending Virgil a look as he came down the steps. "Where did you get that?" The father shifted his gaze to the bandage that was wrapped around Virgil's head.

"Kinda hit my head against something," Virgil responded, looking sheepish. His expression shifted when he saw Sharon giving him in annoyed look. Then he caught sight of Maria and Matthew, and Smokescreen still parked at the curb...and Bruce Wayne. "Maria? Matt? Mr. Wayne? What are you guys doing here?"

"I came to make sure that you were all right, considering where I saw you last," Mr. Wayne stated calmly. Richie shot him a look of confusion, but Mr. Wayne didn't so much as glance in his direction.

"And we came by because we needed to let somebody know that we were heading home," Maria added.

"Wait -- you're going?" Virgil asked in surprise. "Why?"

"Mom and Dad are probably wondering if we're ever going to head back, and there's a few things that we have to do there," Matthew explained.

"Think we'll meet up again sometime?" Richie asked.

"Who knows?" Maria gave a half-shrug. "I'm not sure what the future's gonna hold, but I hope that we can run into each other again."

"Maybe without a giant alien-sized problem," Matthew added quickly.

Smokescreen honked indignantly, getting Mr. Hawkins and Sharon to look at it in surprise.

"Hey, wait a sec -- that's one of those robot things, isn't it?" Sharon frowned at the car parked at the curb.

"His name is Smokescreen," Matthew corrected.

"Smokescreen?" Mr. Hawkins repeated.

"He's a bit of a rookie," Maria commented.

"Oi!" Smokescreen barked, causing the group to look back at the Cybertronian.

Sharon's jaw dropped. "Did that--"

"Talk?" Maria finished. "Yup. Is it really that unexpected?"

Sharon started to stutter while Virgil snickered.

"Come on," Virgil said. "How about we introduce you guys?" He started towards Smokescreen, his family and friend following after him.

Maria and Matthew exchanged glances, Maria smirking at her older brother.

"Something tells me that they're going to be seeing a lot more than they did before," Maria snarked. "Smoke doesn't have somebody to 'guard' yet."

"Guard?" Bruce Wayne repeated, having not followed after Virgil.

"Optimus thought it might be a good idea to have his team keep an eye on the humans that they'd run into," Mrs. Darby explained, standing nearby. "Smokescreen might end up finding himself paired up with either one of those two boys."

"Interesting." Bruce Wayne paused, then looked over at Maria and Matthew with a guarded expression. "So, how are you two going to go home, exactly?"

"Not by normal conventional means, that's for sure," Maria replied lightly. She looked at Matthew. "We should probably get going, right?"

Matthew nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Don't want to overstay our welcome."

Maria gave a half-smile, then cracked her knuckles before pouring on a small amount of energy...and summoning a portal right there in front of them.

Mrs. Darby let out a gasp of surprise. "What did--"

"Think of it as a Ground Bridge between dimensions." Maria shrugged, still with that half-smile on her face. "It was great working with you guys. I hope that, if I ever come here again, it's not because of Brainiac trying something crazy."

Matthew clapped a hand on his sister's shoulder. "Let's go home."


	45. Chapter 45

Maria and Matthew stepped out of the portal, arriving outside their home.

"Why is it that we never come back inside the house?" Matthew asked, looking at Maria curiously.

"I think that's because this is a natural exit," Maria replied. "Besides, I don't want to end up accidentally appearing in the bathroom or something."

"Yeah, that's true." Matthew chuckled at the picture that Maria's statement put in his head. "How long do you think we've been gone this time?"

"I should be able to check...." Maria closed her left eye and instinctively accessed the wifi signal from their house. "...Huh. Looks like we've been gone for a week and a half."

"A week and a half?" Matthew's eyebrows shot up out of surprise. "Seriously? I'd have thought that it would be longer."

"Well, I was on Neo-Mobius for about eight years and it was only a week here." Maria shrugged. "Time warps between worlds. That's the only explanation that I can come up with."

"Maria! Matt!"

The siblings turned their heads and caught sight of a pair of familiar figures running towards them.

"Hey, guys," Maria raised a hand in greeting. "What's up?"

"We were just about to look for you," one of the figures explained -- a girl wearing blue and purple, a pair of purple glasses perched on her nose. "Where have you been?"

Maria and Matthew exchanged looks, smirking.

"You're not gonna believe it," Maria said. "Trust me. There's a lot of new stuff going on, too."

"Of what kind?" The other figure's indigo eyes filled with curiosity.

Maria tapped the side of her head. "Let's gather everyone together and we'll tell you what happened. Have you seen Khrista, Joshua?"

"Khrista? She came back yesterday." Joshua motioned down the street.

"Back from where?" Matthew asked.

"She hasn't said, and I doubt that she wants to say. All that she's confessed to me so far is...." Joshua motioned to his head.

Maria's eyes widened. "No way...you're serious?"

"What are you talking about?" Liz asked, frowning.

"That's part of what happened to us on that other world," Matthew replied. "We should probably get over to Joshua's house."

"And bring Collin with you," Joshua added. He turned and started down the street, back towards his house.

"Collin?" Maria frowned at the mentioning of her younger brother. "Why?"

"Just figured that he'd want to hear what it is that we're going to be talking about," Joshua replied without looking back.

"Uh...okay."

Matthew, Liz, and Maria exchanged glances, wondering what it was that Joshua was talking about.

"Well, we need to check in on Mom and Dad anyway," Matthew commented. "I don't see why not." He started for the house, the other two following after him.

The trio soon arrived at their home and stepped inside, causing a scrambling noise as three familiar figures ran into the main entrance.

"Maria!" A woman with frizzy black hair wrapped her arms around the Reploid with relief. "Where have you been? We were starting to worry when you didn't come back after a week."

"Sorry about that," Maria replied sheepishly. "We kinda ran into some...interesting events. Involving some weird memories and even weirder coincidences. We're meeting at Joshua's house in order to talk about what's happened."

"Weird memories?" repeated Maria's father. "Of what kind?"

"Oh, eleven or twelve years ago or so," Matthew replied off-handedly. He smirked as his parents' eyes widened. "We'll fill you in later. For now, I want to figure out what it is that Joshua wanted to talk to us about."

"He said he wanted Collin to be around for it, too, but he didn't say why that was." Maria shrugged. "I've got a guess as to why, but we're going to have to head over there in order to make sure."

The Carlsdale parents exchanged glances when they heard that.

"So long as you tell us what exactly it is that is going on, I don't see why not," Maria's father finally said. "Go on -- get going."

"What are we going to talk about?" Collin asked, blue eyes filling with confusion.

"You'll see," Maria replied, smirking. "Come on -- let's go find Joshua and Khrista in order to find out what Joshua's planning."

**Time Break**

"So, this is Joshua's house, right?"

"Yeah, this is it." Liz nodded up at the two-story, tan house that they were standing in front of. "He's not necessarily going to be inside, though."

Maria frowned, then looked at her younger sister in confusion. "What do you mean, exactly?"

"He's got a hiding place in his backyard, so to speak." A familiar figure came around the side of the house and moved to stand in front of the four siblings, a small smile playing on her face. "Hey, guys. Long time, no see."

"Hey, Khrista." Matthew nodded in greeting to the brown-haired, blue-eyed girl in front of them. "How've you been?"

Khrista gave a half-shrug. "Meh. I could be better, but I'm not complaining right now." Khrista jabbed a thumb back towards the way she had come. "Joshua's back this way. Come on."

Khrista turned and started back around the house, the others following after her.

"Where is it that we're going, Khrista?" Maria asked as they moved around the house and started into the woods behind it.

Khrista glanced back at the others. "Just where Joshua makes his stuff."

"You mean his lab?" Maria asked in surprise.

"You haven't been there?" Matthew looked over at Maria.

Maria shook her head. "Nope. I know that he makes and experiments with mechanical equipment, but I haven't seen where he makes them."

"Joshua's making machines?" Collin asked in surprise. "Is he making robots?"

"I don't think he's ready for that yet," Khrista called back. "I know he can make bombs and likes to try to make new inventions, but he hasn't made anything that can think for itself yet."

"Oh. Well, that's still pretty cool."

Matthew chuckled and ruffled his younger brother's blond hair. "Yeah, it is. Gotta wonder where he's getting all his ideas, though."

Maria frowned slightly while Wildfire made a noise at the back of her mind that clearly said the Cybertronian knew something. The Reploid could easily guess at what it was if Wildfire knew.

"How much further?" Liz asked.

"Not too far," Khrista replied. "He actually managed to find a cave to hide it in."

"A cave? Around here?" Maria gained an interested expression. "I didn't think there was one to go explore in."

Khrista shrugged. "I don't know how he found it, either. Anyway, like I said, we're almost there."

The group soon arrived at a large clearing in the woods, which Khrista led them across before entering a cave that was hidden by a tight-knit clump of trees.

And also happened to have a steel door on the front of it.

Khrista walked right up to the door and rapped on it twice before it creaked open. "Here we are. Follow me in...if you dare." With that, Khrista disappeared inside.

Maria grinned. "I definitely want to see what Joshua's lab looks like." She promptly started forward, slipping past the door as the others started in after her.

Past the door, the cave looked like it had been rather roughly carved, with the cave floor looking like it had been stamped on multiple times over -- maybe had some things dragged across, too. There were lights lining the walls, too, making it easy to see where it was that Maria and the others were going.

Maria started down the cave tunnel, hearing the footsteps of her siblings behind her while watching Khrista continue to move ahead of her.

"How big is Joshua's lab, anyway?" Maria asked.

"I dunno. I've never tried to really explore too deeply." Khrista shrugged. "And Joshua only lets me wander around the main area, anyway, because he has more volatile stuff in the other areas."

"Really?" Liz sounded intrigued. "Like what kinds of stuff?"

"You mentioned bombs earlier," Collin said somewhat nervously.

"The EMP kind, mostly," Khrista replied. "He has small shock bombs, too, but nothing really beyond C4. At least, that's what he's told me."

Maria glanced back at her siblings, who were exchanging looks that clearly said they didn't exactly know what to say to Khrista's statement. She looked back at Khrista, wondering if there was anything in Joshua's lab that she should be genuinely worried about.

The group soon reached a fork in the road, but Khrista led the group down the left path without so much as a glance down the right tunnel.

"What's down that way?" Matthew asked, looking to the right as Khrista brought them to another steel door, which she rapped on five times this time.

"I dunno. Joshua's got the door of a safe on that one, and I haven't really looked into trying to break that one."

"I have my reasons for keeping that door shut," commented a familiar voice as the door opened. Joshua appeared on the other side, a calm expression on his face and his cobalt and green armor reflecting the light of the lights on the cave walls. "Mainly because I don't want unwanted guests to wander in there."

"Do you have dangerous weapons hiding back there?" Maria asked, frowning.

"I've made it a point to make no guns just yet," Joshua replied. He stepped aside and motioned for the group to step through the doorway. "Come in. There's a lot that we have to talk about."

"You got that right," Liz muttered.

Maria and the others walked in past Joshua and took a look around the room.

"Okay, how did you manage to get a lab this advanced?" Maria asked, frowning at the metal walls, floor, and all of the mechanical equipment scattered everywhere.

"The Nintendo company wanted my side of the story for the sake of that video game they decided to make," Joshua responded off-handedly. "I saw an opportunity." He moved to stand in the center of the room, near a table that looked like it was covered over in charts and building plans for something.

"Seriously?" Matthew looked at his neighbor incredulously.

"Yowza, Joshua," Liz muttered, using one of the words that her parents sometimes used.

"You got that right," Maria commented. She scanned the room again, taking in what Joshua had at his fingertips. "Dr. Light had some more-advanced stuff, though...."

"Speaking of other worlds," Joshua stated meaningfully, "where did you and Matthew go this time?"

Maria and Matthew exchanged looks before gaining large grins, both those soon turned into expressions of indifference.

"We got to see Batman and the other Justice League members," Maria stated in an off-handed manner, making a careless waving motion.

"You didn't want to tell us up there and you waited until everyone was here to tell us that?" Liz asked, frowning. "I don't see how that's supposed to be unbelievable."

"They weren't the unbelievable part," Matthew said. "It's who we found with them that was unbelievable at first."

"What do you mean?" Khrista asked.

Maria smirked. "What do you think of the idea that there is a metal planet out there with giant robots that can transform into vehicles?"

"You met the Go-Bots?" Collin asked, a hopeful expression crossing his face.

Matthew looked at his younger brother with a confused expression for a moment before remembering the strange toys that Collin had gotten interested in recently. "No, but they are similar."

"The group we met were Cybertronians," Maria jumped in. "They'd been plagued by a war for a long time, and since their planet was pretty much dead as a result, they ended up scattered across the universe. The leader of the Autobots -- the good guys -- ended up on Earth, and the leader of the Decepticons -- the bad guys -- ended up following after him. We gave them a hand with a couple things that ended up happening while we were there."

"What kinds of things?" Khrista asked, frowning curiously.

"You remember those natural disasters that took place all over the planet a while back?" Matthew asked. When he was met with a number of nods, he continued, "Apparently, that was caused by the evil deity of the Cybertronians."

"The what now?" Khrista blinked in surprise.

"Evil deity? Yeah, right." Liz rolled her eyes.

"Well, super-powerful brother of the official creator of the Cybertronians, then," Maria said.

"That sounds even less believable."

Maria and Matthew exchanged glances.

"Anyway, it turns out that Unicron is the core of the planet, so we kinda had to deal with him nearly waking up and tearing Earth apart," Maria finally said. "Matt and I weren't on the team that went to his Spark chamber in order to force him back to sleep, though."

Joshua and Khrista both flinched when they heard the name Unicron, while Liz furrowed her eyebrows.

"Who's Unicron?" Collin asked, frowning.

"A guy you want to hope that you never meet," Khrista replied, rubbing her head. She blinked a couple times before frowning. "Okay, how did--"

"And here's the even more unbelievable part," Matthew said.

Maria nodded. "Yeah. Before I keep going, though, I'm going to ask you guys if you recognized any of the terms that I used to describe the giant metal aliens. And be honest."

Khrista and Liz were the only ones who shook their heads; Collin just shrugged while Joshua gained a thoughtful expression.

"That's because you won't find a TV show, video game, whatever on those guys around here," Maria said with a straight face. "And there's a pretty interesting reason why."

"We've got them on our world, too," Matthew said.

Liz and Khrista stared at Maria and Matthew in surprise and shock while Collin's eyes widened and Joshua's thoughtful look became interested.

"You have _got_ to be kidding," Liz said seriously.

"We're not." Maria shook her head. "And we can prove it, too. We've seen Cybertronians from this part of the universe before."

Khrista blinked a couple times, her shirt shifting from dull red to a bright gold. "Hang on...guys, I think they're telling the truth. Give me a sec to make sure."

"What are you going to do?" Joshua asked curiously.

"Just a...a trick that I learned when I was out." Khrista looked a little grim, but it shifted to an expression of concentration as she held one hand out. "Okay. I hope this works this time." She clenched her eyes shut as her body tensed.

Maria felt a blast of energy, and everything started to shift around them...until Joshua's lab was replaced by a metal hill under a starry night sky.

"Whoa!" Liz looked around in amazement. "Where--"

"Cybertron!" Maria exclaimed. "How'd you manage to get this set up?"

"It's something that I've seen a few times in my dreams," Khrista admitted, lowering her hand. "I'll be able to keep the illusion up for a while, but we are still standing in Joshua's lab." She frowned. "Did you say 'Cybertron'?"

Maria nodded. "That's the name of the planet that the Autobots and Decepticons are from. I know -- I've seen it a few times in my dreams, too. When I've been talking to Wildfire."

"Wildfire?" Liz repeated, blinking in confusion.

"Yeah. The Cybertronian who's stuck in my head."

There came a snort of amusement from Maria's sister. "Seriously? How's a metal giant get into your head?"

"That involves a Cybertronian named Vector Prime," Matthew replied.

Maria sent Matthew a sideways glance before looking back at the others. "Yeah. He can warp space and time, so he can put people wherever he wants to. Even in the minds of other people. For example....Joshua, Matthew, Khrista, and I all have Cybertronians in our minds from the exact same team." The Reploid pointed at each person in turn.

"Wait -- what?" Khrista gained an expression of surprise.

"Did you really think that this was my natural form, Khrista?"

A figure suddenly materialized next to Khrista, causing the group to jump at her sudden appearance.

Matthew was the first to speak. "Who--"

"Shape-Change, code name Arsenal," the woman introduced herself, bright blue eyes looking directly at Maria and Matthew. She gave a slight smile. "It's good to see you again, Maria, Matthew."

"Yeah, same here," Maria responded.

"You two know each other?" Khrista looked back and forth between the apparition and the two Carlsdale siblings.

"It's hard not to," Shape-Change replied with a partial shrug.

 _*Ask her how she managed to appear like that*_ Wildfire demanded.

Maria opened her mouth to speak, but Shape-Change stopped her short.

"I can appear here because I'm directly connected to Khrista, Wildfire," Shape-Change stated calmly. "And you don't need to use Maria as a loudspeaker -- Khrista has connected all of our minds together for the illusion to reveal itself, so we can all speak with each other freely."

_*Testing, one two -- can anybody besides Joshua hear me?*_

Liz jumped. "Who was that?"

_*Jolt, if I am not mistaken. And I am Sparkseer, currently residing within Matthew's mind. A pleasure to finally be able to speak with you all*_

_*Seer! Jolt! Wildfire! I didn't know you were so close!*_

Maria felt a chill run down her spine while Wildfire let out a gasp of surprise.

"Coil?" Shape-Change gained an interested expression. "Where are you?"

"He's with me," Collin responded, suddenly looking rather sheepish.

"Coil?" Khrista repeated in confusion.

 _*Consider him the baby of the family*_ Wildfire responded.

 _*Although we could use far better terms, that does fit him rather well*_ Sparkseer admitted. _*I am pleased to hear that you are well, Coil. How long has Collin been aware of you?*_

"As far back as I can remember," Collin responded, smiling brightly. "Coil's always been there!"

"Well, that solves that problem," Maria commented. "Those are the five Cybertronians that we knew about. Now to just figure out how to get them out."

"Vector Prime said that we'd figure that out when we got back together," Matthew added. "I'm kind of wondering what he meant by that."

Joshua frowned slightly. "I believe I may have the answer to that."

Shape-Change looked at Joshua with an interested expression. "How so?"

"I picked up something a while back -- coordinates of some kind, no doubt." Joshua snapped his fingers, and sparking, electrical numbers appeared in the air in front of him.

"Those look like--"

"Cybertronian runes of some kind," Maria finished Shape-Change's sentence, causing the others to look at her in surprise.

"Indeed." Shape-Change gave Maria a slight nod. "Can you read them?"

"Um...." Maria frowned. "I think...Nexus is one of the words, but I can't read the other one."

"Axiom Nexus," Shape-Change said, nodding. "Good."

"Axiom Nexus?" Collin repeated. "What does that mean?"

 _*Sounds like a place where things meet*_ Jolt commented.

"A place where things meet?" Maria repeated thoughtfully. "Maybe we have to travel there?"

Khrista frowned at that, then looked at Shape-Change. "What do you think?"

The Cybertronian in human form paused, considering that. "It seems plausible. However, we won't know for sure unless we attempt to go there."

"And we should probably all go there at once," Liz added.

There were a number of nods and murmurs of assent from those present.

"Sounds like we're all in agreement," Maria commented as Khrista's illusion flickered and faded; they were back in Joshua's lab in seconds. "I'm up to it. What about you guys?"

"Shouldn't we let Mom and Dad know where we're going first?" Liz asked. "Considering that _you_ disappeared for a week and a half, I mean."

"I said we were going to talk to Joshua," Maria responded. "I didn't say how long we were going to be."

Matthew actually burst out laughing at that. "So long as we tell Mom and Dad what happened, I'm okay with it."

"I wanna see this Axiom Nexus place," Collin commented. "And Coil does, too."

"I would like to be able to have more hands-on work with Jolt than just have him directing me and making suggestions from a supervisor's standpoint," Joshua commented thoughtfully.

"I just hope we don't end up getting into trouble," Khrista said rubbing at her neck absently. She looked over at Maria. "You think you can open a portal now?"

"Sure. Easy enough." Maria cracked her knuckles and poured on the energy before pointing forward; a blue swirl of energy instantly appeared on the wall behind Khrista and Joshua. "Next stop, Axiom Nexus."

 


End file.
